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^C^W* 


FETICHISM, 

A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  ANTHROPOLOGY  AND 
THE  HISTORY  OF  RELIGION. 


BY 


FRITZ  SCHULTZE,  Ph.  D. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN, 

By  J.  FITZGERALD,  M.A. 


New-York  : 
THE    HUMBOLDT    PUBLISHING    CO. 
No.  28  LAFAYETTE   PLACE. 


3 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 

I.  Introductory : 

II.  The  Mind  of  the  Savage  in  its  Intellectual  and  Moral  Aspects 3 

1.  The  Intellect  of  the  Savage 4 

2.  The  Morality  'of  the  Savage r> 

3.  Conclusion '4 

III.  The  Relation  between  the  Savage  Mind  and  its  Object. 15 

1.  The  Value  of  Objects 1 5 

2.  The  Anthropopathic  Apprehension  of  Objects i^s 

3.  The  Causal  Connection  of  Objects 22 

IV.  Fetichism  as  a  Religion 2° 

1.  The  Belief  in  Fetiches 

2.  The  Range  of  fetich  Influence 3l_ 

3.  The  Religiosity  of  Fetich  Worshipers J- 

4.  Worship  and  Sacrifice -1 2 

5.  Fetich   Priesthoods 45 

6.  Fetichism  among  Non-Savages t>i 

V.  The  Various  Objects  of  Fetich  Worship 64 

1 .  Stones  as  Fetiches «4 

2.  Mountains  w  Fetiches '  ; 

3.  Water  as     Fetich °° 

4.  Wind  and  Fire  as  Fetiches 67 

5.  Plants  as  Fetiches 69 

6.  Animals  as  Fetiches 

7.  Men  as  Fetiches lSj 

VI.  The  Highest  Grade  of  Fetichism 

1.  The  New  Object \» 

2.  The  Gradual  Acquisition  of  Knowledge 

3.  The  Worship  of  the  Moon 9' 

4.  The  Worship  of  the  Stars   

5.  Transition  to  Sun   Worship 

6.  The  Worship  of  the  Sun '.'5 

7.  The  Worship  of  the  Heavens 106 

VII.  The  Aim  of  Fetichism Ion 

1 .  Retrospect io9 

2.  The  New  Problem no 


239880 


FETICHISM: 


CONTRIBUTION    TO    ANTHROPOLOGY   AND 
THE  HISTORY  OF  RELIGION. 

By  FRITZ  SCHULTZE,  Dr.  Phil. 

TRANSLATED   FROM    THE   GERMAN    BY   J.    FITZGERALD,    M.A. 
[Copyright,  1885,  by  J.  Fitzgerald.] 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

David  Hume  was  the  first  in  mod- 
ern times  to  reject  the  transcendental 
theories  of  Religion  and  to  seek  an 
explanation  for  it  in  the  empiric 
world  of  man,  on  psychological  prin- 
ciples. "  No  passions,"  says  he,  "  can 
be  supposed  to  work  upon  such  bar- 
barians, but  the  ordinary  affections 
of  human  life  ;  the  anxious  concern 
for  happiness,  the  dread  of  future 
misery,  the  terror  of  death,  the  thirst 
of  revenge,  the  appetite  for  food  and 
other  necessaries.  These  are  their 
onlv  motives."  * 

To  these  motives  of  fear  and  hope 
Hume  now  adds,  on  the  one  hand, 
man's  ignorance  of  Nature  and  of  its 
phenomena ;  and  on  the  other  the 
faculty  of  imagination,  as  factors 
going  to  make  up  the  notion  of  God. 
"  We  hang  in  perpetual  suspense 
between  life  and  death,  health  and 
sickness,  plenty  and  want,  which  are 
distributed  among  the  human  spe- 
cies by  secret  and   unknown  causes, 

*  David  Hume,  Works,  Vol.  IV. 


whose  operation  is  oft  unexpected 
and  always  unaccountable.  These 
unknown  causes,  then,  become  the 
constant  object  of  our  hope  and  fear ; 
and  while  the  passions  are  kept  in 
perpetual  alarm  by  an  anxious  expec- 
tation of  the  events,  the  imagination 
is  equally  employed  in  forming  ideas 
of  those  powers,  on  which  we  have 
so  entire  a  dependence.  Could  men 
anatomize  nature,  according  to  the 
most  probable,  at  least  the  most  in- 
telligible philosophy,  they  would  find 
that  these  causes  are  nothing  but  the 
particular  fabric  and  structure  of  the 
minute  parts  of  their  own  bodies  and 
of  external  objects  ;  and  that,  by  a 
regular  and  constant  machinery,  all 
the  events  are  produced,  about  which 
they  are  so  much  concerned.  But 
this  philosophy  exceeds  the  compre- 
hension of  the  ignorant  multitude, 
who  can  only  conceive  the  unknown 
causes,  in  a  general  and  confused 
manner;  though  their  imagination, 
perpetually  employed  on  the  same 
subject,  must  labor  to  form  some 
particular  and  distinct  idea  of  them. 
The  more  they  consider  these  causes 
themselves,    and    the    uncertainty   of 


2 


I  i    1  H    1I1S.M. 


their  operation,  the  less  satlsfai  tion 
do  they  meel  with  in  their  resean  hes  ; 
ami,  however  unwilling,  they  must  at 
last  have  abandoned  so  arduous  an 
attempt,  were  it  not  i"t  a  propensity 

in    human    nature,   which    leads    into 

a  system  thai  gives  them  satisfaction. 
There  is  a  universal  tendency  among 
mankind  i<>  conceive  all  beings  like 
themselves,  ami  to  transfer  to  every 
object  those  qualities  with  which  they 
are  familiarly  acquainted,  and  of 
which  they  are  intimately  conscious. 
We  find  human  faces  in  the  moon, 
armies  in  the  clouds,  and  by  a  nat- 
ural propensity,  if  not  corrected  by 
experience  and  reflection,  ascribe 
malice  or  good-wall  to  everything  that 
hurts  or  pleases  us.  Hence  the  fre- 
quency and  beauty  of  the  prosopopoeia 
in  poetry,  where  trees,  mountains 
and  streams  are  personified,  and  the 
inanimate  parts  of  nature  acquire 
sentiment  and  passion."  "No  won- 
der, then,  that  mankind,  being  placed 
in  such  an  absolute  ignorance  of 
causes,  and  being  at  the  same  time 
so  anxious  concerning  their  future 
fortune,  should  immediately  acknowl- 
edge a  dependence  on  invisible  pow- 
possessed  of  sentiment  and  in- 
telligence." Such  is  the  account 
which  Hume  gives  of  Polytheism. 
He  does  not,  it  is  true,  make  an 
application  of  his  theory  to  Fetichism 
directly,  though  much  of  what  he  says 
about  the  rise  of  Polytheism  will  serve 
equally  well  to  account  for  fetichism. 
Benjamin  Constant,  inasmuch  as  he 
looks  for  the  origin  of  religion  in 
man  himself,  agrees  with  Hume  ;  but 
inasmuch  as  he  postulates  a  special 
faculty,  "the  religious  sentiment," 
which  is  not  demonstrable,  he  again 
quits  the  empirical  standpoint.  Mei- 
ners,  in  his  History  of  Religions, 
agrees  fully  with  Hume,  whose  theory 
he  states,  and  then  makes  this  appli- 
cation of  it  to  the  subject  of  feti- 
chism :  "  Fetichism,"  says  he,  "  is  not 
only  the  most  ancient,  but  it  is  also 
the  most  universal  form  of  religion. 
It  furnishes  incontrovertible  proof 
that  the  lack  of  correct  knowledge 
was  the  true  and  only  cause  of  poly- 


theism ;   and   that   for  the  uncultured 
savage  everything  is  God,  or  may  be 

( rod."  *        kaiser,    in     his     "  Biblical 

Theology,"  places  the  origin  of  re- 
ligion, not  in  this  or  that  sentiment, 
but  " subjectively  in  the  entire  char- 
acter of  man,"  and  "objectively  in 
Nature,  to  which  man  is  related."  t 
lie  holds  that  primitive  man  was 
without  the  impress  of  Spirit,  that  he 
was  developed  out  of  inferior  organ- 
isms and  that  his  first  attempt  at  a 
religious  belief  took  the  form  of 
fetichism.  "  The  first,  or  the  best 
piece  of  wood,  or  stone  he  meets, — 
some  animal,  some  star  will  be  es- 
teemed a  god."  "  While  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  are  still  dormant, 
and  in  the  absence  of  knowledge  and 
experience,  of  invention  and  culture, 
whether  mental  or  moral,  we  are  not 
to  be  surprised  if  man  regards  proxi- 
mate causes  as  ultimate,  and  pays 
worship  to  material  objects,  espe- 
cially those  which  arrest  his  attention 
by  their  brightness,  their  velocity, 
their  great  size,  etc."  "  The  neces- 
sities of  the  case,  and  history  itself 
prove  that  fetichism  is  the  primitive 
religion  of  man.  The  base  of  human 
culture  rests  upon  the  earth,  but  its 
summit  penetrates  the  invisible  spaces 
of  heaven,  and  reaches  into  infinity." 
This  theory  of  Kaiser's,  in  so  far 
as  it  differs  from  Hume's  and  agrees 
with  that  of  Meiners  in  asserting 
that  fetichism  is  the  primitive  relig- 
ion, is  rejected  by  Theodor  Waitz  in 
his  "  Anthropology  of  Savage  Tribes." 
He  holds  with  Hume,  that  "  a  rude 
systemless  Polytheism  "  was  the  prim- 
itive religion  ;  and  his  arguments  are 
identical  with  those  of  Hume  as  al- 
ready set   forth.!     According  to  him, 


*C.  Meiners,  Allp.  Krit.  Gesch.  d.  Relig- 
ionen.     Hannover.  1S06,  Vol.  I.  S.  143. 

t  Gottl.  Phil.  Chris!.  Kaiser,  Die  biblische 
Theologie  qder  Judaismus  u.  Christianismus 
nach  der  grammatisch-historischen  Inierpre- 
tationsmethode  u.  nach  einer  freimiithigen 
Stellung  in  die  Kritisch-vergleichende  Uni- 
versalgeschichte  der  Religionen  und  in  die 
universale  Religion.  Erlangen,  1S13.  Theil, 
I.  S.  2. 

I  Th.  Waitz,  Anthropologic  der  Natur- 
volker. 


FETICHISM. 


fetichism  springs  from  polytheism, 
and  here  he  agrees  with  Pfieiderer. 
But  whereas  according  to  Prleiderer 
external  causes  bring  about  its  devel- 
opment, Waitz  assigns  for  it  causes 
purely  internal  and  psychological. 
"  The  negro,"  says  he,  "  carries  the 
belief  in  an  animated  Nature  to  its 
uttermost  limits ;  but  as  his  mind 
is  too  rude  to  conceive  of  one  uni- 
versal animated  nature,  his  imagina- 
tion leads  him  to  regard  every  tri- 
fling object  around  him  as  endowed 
with  life.  In  every  material  thing  he 
sees  a  spirit,  often  of  great  power, 
and  quite  disproportionate  to  the 
object  itself."  This  object  and  this 
spirit  make  up  a  whole,  the  fetich. 
Waitz,  however,  does  not  explain  to 
us  the  reason  why  the  savage  takes 
this  view  of  material  and  inanimate 
things,  and  yet  this  is  a  question 
of  high  importance. 

And  precisely  this  point  do  I  find 
treated  with  great  clearness  by  Rein- 
hard  in  his  valuable  "  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of 
Religious  Ideas."  *  From  the  fact 
that  religion  is  to  be  found  among 
men,  whatever  their  condition,  he  con- 
cludes that  it  must  have  its  basis  in 
the  human  mind  itself,  and  he  holds 
that  if  we  would  study  the  origin 
of  religious  ideas  we  must  go  back 
to  the  ages  of  barbarism,  that  is,  to 
primitive  times.  That  religion  then 
was  monotheistic  cannot  be  shown  : 
but  on  the  other  hand  fetichism 
always  characterizes  the  lowest  stage 
of  intellectual  development.  [The 
account  given  by  Reinhard  of  the 
rise  of  fetichisirr",  being  substantially 
that  which  is  set  forth  in  the  present 
work,  need  not  be  given  here,  as  it 
will  be  found  in  full  detail  in  the 
subsequent  chapters  ;  and  as  Feuer- 
bach  agrees  in  essentials  with  Rein- 
hard  it  will  be  enough  to  make  a 
general  reference  to  his  work  upon 
this  subject.!] 


*  Phil.  Christ.  Reinhard,  Abriss  einer  Ge- 
schichte  der  Entstehung  der  religidsen  Ideen. 
Jena.  1794. 

t  Ludwig  Feuerbach,  Das  Wesen  der  Re- 


The  true  way  of  arriving  at  an  un- 
derstanding of  fetichism  is  by  observ- 
ing savage  life ;  and  here,  books  of 
travel  are  of  great  importance. 
Among  these  there  is  none  more  in- 
structive than  A.  Bastian's  "Visit  to 
San  Salvador,  Capital  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Congo  :  a  Contribution  to  Mythol- 
ogy and  Psychology."  *  As  the  au- 
thor never  transfers  to  the  savage 
his  own  thoughts  and  motives, 
but  views  him  as  he  is,  from  the  psy- 
chological point  of  view,  his  work  is 
properly  called  a  contribution  to  psy- 
chology, and  with  equal  justice  a  con- 
tribution to  mythology,  since  fetichism 
is  the  first  step  in  religion. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   MIND   OF  THE    SAVAGE  IN    ITS    IN- 
TELLECTUAL AND  MORAL  ASPECTS. 

By  fetichism  we  understand  the  re- 
ligious veneration  of  material  objects. 
If  such  objects  are  to  be  worshiped, 
they  must  first  of  all  appear  to  be 
worthy  of  veneration,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  worshiper  must  so  con- 
sider them.  The  fetich,  however,  e.g. 
a  piece  of  metal,  still  continues  to  be, 
in  external  form  and  in  essential  con- 
stitution, the  self-same  thing,  whether 
observed  by  a  European  or  by  an 
African.  Hence  that  which  renders 
it  a  fetich  is  nothing  intrinsic  to  the 
thing  itself,  but  the  view  which  the 
fetichist  takes  of  it.  If  therefore  we 
would  understand  fetichism  in  its  true 
nature,  we  must  investigate  the  sav- 
age's mode  of  apprehending  objects, 
or  in  other  words,  we  must  study  the 
intellectual  status  of  the  fetichist. 
Fetichism  has  an  historical  position 
in  all  nations  which  stand  lowest  in 
intellectual  development,  that  is, 
among  savages,  so-called.     Our  first 


ligion.  Vorlesungen  iiber  das  Wesen  der 
Religion.  Nebst  Zusatzen  u.  Aumerkungen. 
Leipzig,  1851. 

*  Afrikanische  Reisen  von  Dr.  A.  Bastian. 
Ein  Eesuch  in  San  Salvador,  der  Hauptstadt 
der  Konigreichs  Congo.     Bremen,  1859. 


!  I    !  It    llls.M. 


task,  accordingly,  will  be  to  ascertain 
tin-  savage's  inu-llfctu.il  status.  We 
propose  therefore  to  sketch  the  savage 
mind  first  in  its  logical,  and  then  in 
its  ethical  aspects. 

i.  The  Intellect  of  the  Savai 


The    understanding   has   cognition 
only  of  those  objects  which    arc  given 
In   it   in   experience,  and    its   range   is 
consequently  restricted    by  the   limits 
of  its   experience.      But  what    are   the 
objects  lit  experience  ?     Those  which 
are  to  be  found  in    the   man's  world: 
and   hence    a  man's    cognitions    can 
never  go  beyond  his  world.     We   say  \ 
/lis  world,  meaning  the  universe,  as ! 
far  as  he  knows   it.     If  therefore  we  ; 
would  fix  the  intellectual  status  of  any 
individual,  we  must  first  ascertain  the 
number  and  the   nature  of  his  cogni-  j 
tions  or  objects. 

As  the  understanding,  then,  has  no  ■ 
cognitions  save  those  which  come  to  it 
out  of  its  world,  it  follows   that  the 
number  and  the  nature  of  one  man's 
cognitions,  or  objects — in  other  words, 
the  empiric  contents  of  his  mind — will 
differ  from  those  of   another,  just   as 
their  respective  worlds  differ.     Thus 
the  sum-total  of   cognitions  held  by  a 
mountaineer   is    different  from    that 
held  by  a  seafaring  man  ;     and    an 
Eskimo's    cognitions    are     different 
from   those  of    a    Hindu,   in   propor- 
tion as  their  respective  worlds  differ  ; 
and     they   mutually    resemble    each 
other,  in  proportion    as    their  worlds 
are    alike.      The  number   of   objects 
nitions)  differs  in  the  same  way. 
Thus  the  savage   has   but   few,  while 
the    civilized    European     has     many. 
From  the  paucity  or  the   multiplicity 
of    these    flow    consequences    of    the 
highest  importance  for  a  just  estimate 
of  the  respective   individuals.      The 
greater  the  number  of  objects  which  a 
man  has,  the  better  equipped  and  the 
more  cultivated  will  be  his  understand- 
ing, the  more  alert  his  thinking  facul- 
tv.  and  the  higher  his  development  as 
a  human  being.     On  the  other  hand, 
the  fewer  his  objects,  the  lower  is  his 
{Trade  of  development.     It  is  univers- 


ally  true    that    man   grows  only  as  he 
apprehends  obj< 

The  most  fully  developed  intellect, 
therefore,  is  that  which  possesses  the 
greatest  number  of  objects.  But  if  I 
would  have  many  objects,  I  must  dis- 
criminate and  distinguish  between 
them  sharply:  for  unless  they  be  thus 
defined,  they  tend  to  amalgamate,  and 
so  the  number  of  objects  would  be 
diminished.  Hence  it  is  only  in  pro- 
portion as  the  understanding  draws 
distinctions,  that  its  objects  are  mani- 
fold and  varied;  and  vice  versa,  it  can 
make  sharp  distinctions  only  where  its 
objects  are  varied.  From  this  it  fol- 
lows that  the  faculty  of  accurate  think- 
ing or  of  sharply  defining  depends  im- 
mediately and  necessarily  upon  the 
number  of  the  objects  ;  so  that,  given 
the  number  of  a  man's  objects,  we 
might  determine  the  strength  or  the 
feebleness  of  his  thinking  powers,  or 
of  his  intellectual  faculty.  But  since 
the  objects  are  distinct  only  in  so  far 
as  the  understanding  discriminates  be- 
tween them,  the  number  of  the  ob- 
jects must  depend  upon  the  sharp- 
ness with  which  these  distinctions  are 
drawn. 

The  status  of  a  people  as  regards 
civilization  might  be  determined  by 
the  greater  or  less  accuracy  with  which 
they  discriminate  between  objects ; 
and  the  lowest  grade  of  culture  will 
accordingly  be  characterized  by  a  lack 
of  the  power  of  discrimination.  In 
the  domain  of  thought  that  man  only 
will  attain  eminence  who  can  make- 
distinctions  where  others  do  not.  All 
erroneous  and  illogical  thinking  owes 
its  rise  to  a  weakness*  of  the  intellect, 
which  fails  to  perceive  really  existent 
distinctions.  The  critic  is  a  critic 
only  in  so  far  as  he  perceives  distinc- 
tions, and  consequently  disparity,  be- 
tween objects  which  another  takes  to 
be  identical.  We  call  a  man  well-bred, 
or  refined,  in  the  social  sense,  who  in 
every  circumstance  of  life  knows  how 
to  adapt  his  demeanor  to  the  various 
individuals  he  meets  with  :  but  this 
he  cannot  do  unless  he  can  appreciate 
differences  of  character  and  of  cir- 
cumstance.    The  rude  and  unobser- 


FETICHISM. 


vant  treat  all  alike,  under  all  circum- 
stances, as  though  no  differences  ex- 
isted. A  man  of  refined  moral  sense 
is  he  who,  in  judging  of  what  is  due 
to  each- individual,  makes  the  nicest 
distinctions  :  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  less  accurate  the  distinctions  a 
man  makes  in  moral  questions,  the 
more  one-sided,  prejudiced,  and  vi- 
cious he  will  be. 

Accordingly,  the  lowest  stage  of  in- 
tellect is  characterized  by  a  lack  of 
many  distinctions  which  are  found  in 
higher  stages  :  or  in  other  words  by 
the  absence  of  many  objects  possessed 
by  the  higher  stages. 

As  compared  then  with  a  well  devel- 
oped intelligence,  one  which  is  unde- 
veloped has  a  very  contracted  sphere 
of  objects.  The  world  it  inhabits,  its 
object-world,  must  be  very  narrow  and 
restricted.  Consider  only  the  grade 
of  intelligence  which  animals  attain, 
and  the  number  of  objects  which  they 
have  :  both  stand  equally  low.  The 
intellect  of  the  child  is  less  developed, 
logically  and  ethically,  than  that  of 
the  adult ;  and  the  reason  is,  that  the 
objects  of  the  former  are  inferior  to 
those  of  the  latter,  whether  as  regards 
their  number  or  their  value.  The 
child  is  yet  ignorant  of  those  things 
which  are  the  objects  of  the  adult. 
Abstract  conceptions,  such  as  virtue 
and  vice,  are  strange  and  incompre- 
hensible to  him.  His  conceptions  are 
all  of  a  concrete  nature,  such  as  are 
given  him  in  his  world ;  and  this 
world  is  restricted  to  the  nursery,  to 
his  home,  or  to  the  town  in  which  he 
lives,  all  regarded  as  objects  of  sense. 
His  world  widens  by  degrees,  but  it 
is  only  -by  becoming  engrossed  with 
still  new  objects,  that  he  reaches  the 
stage  of  culture  attained  by  his  times 
or  by  his  nation.  If  these  objects  had 
not  been  presented  to  him,  he  would 
have  remained  a  child  all  his  life,  as 
far  as  intellectual  growth  is  concerned. 
The  child's  world  is  contracted,  and 
so  is  his  intellect  :  but  this  world  of 
his  lies  immediately  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  larger  world.  Betwixt  the 
two  there  exist  most  intimate  relations, 
and  an  uninterrupted  commerce,  and 


hence  the  child's  world  and  intellect 
are  ever  expanding. 

But  in  the  case  of  the  savage  there 
is  no  such  commerce  between  his  little 
world  and  the  great  world  around,  and 
hence  he  fails  to  advance  beyond  a 
certain  degree  of  sensuous  apprehen- 
sion. When  our  child  has  made  some 
progress  in  the  formation  of  sensuous 
conceptions,  he  comes  in  contact  with 
a  whole  world  of  abstract  and  scientif- 
ic notions,  which  are  instilled  into  his 
mind  at  school.  He  learns  reading 
and  writing,  and  hears  of  heaven  and 
earth,  and  of  foreign  countries  and 
nations.  The  results  of  centuries  of 
laborious  study  are  set  before  him  on 
the  blackboard,  as  it  were.  His  will 
also  is  disciplined  and  his  passions 
controlled  ;  he  is  taught  how  best  to 
shape  his  conduct,  and  hence  he  is 
not  under  the  necessity  of  making  a 
long  series  of  painful  experiments. 
But  these  intellectual  notions  and  ob- 
jects are  utterly  wanting  in  the  world 
which  surrounds  the  savage.  His 
whole  life  long  he  continues  in  the 
stage  of  mere  sensuous  apprehension  ; 
and  even  this  will  fail  to  furnish  him 
with  as  many  objects  as  the  child 
possesses :  for  we  can  contemplate 
only  that  which  is  within  our  world. 
What  then  does  a  savage  see,  an  Es- 
kimo for  instance  ?  Ice  and  snow, 
bears  and  fishes,  and — Eskimos. 
Nothing  more-  for  "the  whole  ex- 
panse of  Greenland  is  in  great  part 
covered  with  ice  from  2000  to  3000 
feet  in  thickness,  as  we  judge  from  the 
height  of  the  fragments  of  glaciers 
dropping  into  the  sea."  Nature  there- 
fore presents  to  the  contemplation  of 
the  Eskimo  no  objects,  save  ice  :  there 
is  no  change,  but  everlasting  same- 
ness ;  and  man  too  remains  unchanged 
and  undeveloped.  With  regard  to  the 
Eskimos,  Captain  Parry  says  that 
they  are  not  aware  that  there  is  any 
world  different  from  their  own,  or  that 
Nature  may  wear  an  aspect  other  than 
that  with  which  they  are  familiar. 
The  savage's  world  is  narrow,  the 
number  of  his  objects  contracted,  and 
therefore  is  his  intellect  undeveloped. 

Hence  the   broader  the  world    in 


ill  [CHISM. 


which  a  man  lives,  and   the   more   his    nor  tan  it  increase,  for  he  never  quits 
various  conceptions  are  multiplied,  the  his  native  place  am!  never  sees  new 


better  equipped  is  his  brain  for  th 

e  ci  thinking  :  ami  vice  versa,  the 
narrower  his  world, and  the  truer  his 

eptions,  the  less  practi'  ed  is  his 
brain  in  making  distinctions,  and  the 

less  able  is  he  'to  think.       It  is  a  truth 


objei  ts.    The  necessary  i  onsequi 
on  psychological  grounds,  is  that  In' 

is   unable   to  apprehend  or  to  think 
like  a  civilized  European.      It  is  for 

this  reason   that   the   instruction  con- 
veyed  to  savages  by  the  missionaries 


confirmed  by  every  one's  experience  is  received  By  them  "as  meaningless 
that  the  thinking  faculty,  like  every  words,  and  quickly  absorbed  into  their 
other,  needs  practice  to  give  it  dex-   fetichism,  withoul  producing  any  last- 


terity  ;  and  that  unless  it  is  rigor- 
ously and  continuously  exercised. 
|]  still  lack  expertness,  no  mat- 
ter what  may  be  the  natural  advan- 
tages. It  a  man  begins  to  be  a 
student  at  forty,  without  any  previous 
acquaintance  with  books,  he  sets  a 
task  for  his  intractable  brain  which 
it  is  still  as  ill-fitted  to  perform,  as  a 
Chinese  lady  with  compressed  feet 
would  be  to  dance  like  Pepita.  For 
"  passe  eet  Sge,  les  opinions  sont 
faites  ;     quant    aux     fondements,  ils 


ing  effect."*  Their  power  of  ap- 
prehending must  be  exceedingly 
ble,  and  they  "will  not  trouble  their 
brains  with  nice  distinctions."  f  Now 
we  can  understand  why  it  is  that 
"  thinking  is  a  very  laborious  exercise 
for  the  savage  ;  "  and  also  why  it  is 
thai  "  when  he  is  questioned  as  to  in- 
tellectual things,  he  quickly  complains 
of  weariness  and  headache."  $  The 
thinking  faculty  of  the  Bushman  is 
unable  to  seize  the  simplest  ideas  and 
is  characterized  by  extreme  stupidity.? 


sont  batis,  maconnes,  ine'branlables  ;  The  Abipones.  who  are  more  advanced 
autour  d'eux  l'habitude,  la  paresse  in  culture  than  the  Bushmen,  have 
d'esprit,  ks  occupations  pratiques  numbers  only  as  high  as  three.  Four 
sont  comme  un  ciment  que  rien  ne  they  express  by  three-and-one  ;  five, 
pent  dissoudre."  *  by  the  fingers  of  one  hand  :    ten,  by 

Bearing  these  principles  in  mind,  I  those  of  both  hands;  fwenty,by  the 
let  us  consider  the  state  of  some  hands  and  feet  :  but  when  the  number 
wretched  savage,  some  native  of  Tierra  exceeds  twenty,  they  express  it  by 
del  Fuego,  for  instance.  He  has  taking  up  in  the  hand  an  indefinite 
never  come  in  contact  with  civiliza-  quantity  of  sand. |l  The  Corannas  ex- 
tion,  has  never  heard  of  abstract  terms,  j  perience  difficulty  in  counting  beyond 
nor  knows  anything  of  the  outer  three;^  a  nation  in  Guinea  has  num- 
world,  which  for  him  is  undiscovered  bers  as  high  zsjive**  and  some  Bra- 
land,  as  was  the  New  World  for  zilian  aborigines,  as  high  as  four: 
Europeans  before  Columbus's  times,   whatever    exceeds    that    number    is 

He  knows  only  the  barren  deserts  of 

his  native  home,  where  there  are  ,  ^  g  Autnerkung. 
neither  towns  nor  houses.  He  has  t  IbuL  M,  This  does  not  imply  the  in- 
never  entered  a  school  ;  and  his  only  capacity  of  a  savage's  child,  when  instructed. 
desire  is  the  "ratification  of  his  hun-  to  attain  a  higher  degree  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture. "The  negro  IS  tolerably  apt  to  learn, 
but  his  whole  development  depends  on  the 
first  instruction  he  receives.  When  taken 
int<>  the  factories,  his  brain  is  a  tabula  rasa, 
but  ready  to  receive  new  impressions."  (Bas- 
tian,  140.) 

t  Burchell,  Travels   in  the  Interior  of   S. 
Africa,  II.  p.  307. 
I  Ibid.  I.  33S. 
M.  Dobrizhofer,  Historia  de  Abiponibus. 
Vienna,  1784. 
^  Campbell,  Travels  in  South    Africa,  71, 


ger,  his  lust  and  his  indolence.  His 
conceptions  are  all  sensuous,  nor  are 
these  numerous,  being  such  only  as 
come  to  him  from  the  few  miles  of 
territory  around  him — from  arid 
wastes  and  bare  rocks,  from  birds  and 
fellow-savages.  Hence  the  number 
of  his  concrete  notions  is  very  small ; 


*  Taine,  Les    Philosophes    Classiques    du 
XIX.  Siecleen  France. 


**  Bowdich,  Mission  to  Ashantee,  542. 


FETICH  ISM. 


many. 


It  is  difficult  for  us  to  imag- 


ine ourselves  in  so  lowly  an  intellect- ! 
ual  status  as  this  :  but  that  such  status 
is  possible,  we  may  see  in  the  analo-  \ 
gous  case  of  young  children,  who  are  j 
unable  to  appreciate  a  number  when  it 
exceeds  four  or  rive.  But  the  Amer- 
ican Indian,  whose  -world  possesses  a 
greater  number  of  objects,  and  who  is 
continually  engaged  in  the  struggle 
with  wild  beasts  and  other  foes,  leads 
a  more  active  life.  As  he  has  more 
objects,  so  he  has  a  greater  number 
of  conceptions,  and  hence  his  intel- 
lectual power  is  greater.  Still  his  con- 
ceptions are  little  better  than  mere 
sensuous  impressions.  Now  these 
impressions  he  is  receiving  daily  as 
long  as  he  lives,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
if  in  distinguishing  between  them  he 
acquires  a  degree  of  acuteness  which 
we  lack,  owing  to  our  being  more 
taken  up  with  abstract  notions. 
Hence  the  Indian's  nice  discernment 
of  scarcely  perceptible  tracks  on  the 
prairie,  and  of  scarcely  visible  signs  in 
the  primeval  forest.  Hence,  too,  his 
power  of  taking  in  notions  that  are 
somewhat  abstract :  though  this 
power  of  his  must  not  be  exaggerated. 
"  In  North  America  many  Indians  can 
count  up  to  a  thousand  by  scoring  ;  "t 
but  only  up  to  a  thousand,  observe,  and 
that  only  by  scoring.  Some  African 
nations  use  the  numbers  five  or  six 
as  the  basis  of  their  numeration,  in- 
stead of  ten,  so  that  five-and-two  or  six- 
and-one  will  express  seven. %  It  is 
plain  that  these  tribes  must  lack  all 
the  advantage  derived  from  numera- 
tion. They  cannot  reckon  :  and  vet 
without  reckoning  according  to  the 
four  simple  rules  of  arithmetic,  com- 
merce is  impossible.  It  is  impossible 
mum  cuique  reddere  without  some  sys- 
tem of  measurement,  and  this  requires 
numeration  and  reckoning^  Hence 
simply  for  the  reason   that   their  nu- 


*  Eschwege,  Tournal  von  Brasilien,  I.  16S. 

+  Wuttke,   Bd.  I.  S.   156. 

\  Th.  Winterbottom,  Acct.  of  the  Native 
Africans  in  the  Neighborhood  of  Sierra  Leone. 
Lond.  1803,  p.  230. 

§  Cf.  Kuno  Fischer,  Logik,  2,  Aufl.  §  94, 
ff. 


meration  is  defective,  apart  from  all 
other  reasons,  savages  fail  duly  to  ap- 
preciate the  difference  between  meum 
and  tuum.  It  needs  no  words  to  show 
that  they  totally  lack  all  such  scientific 
knowledge  as  is  based  on  measure- 
ment. 

"  They  are  wont  to  make  an  inex- 
act division  of  time  into  moons  and 
days,  and  many  of  them  are  ignorant 
of  any  division  save  the  diurnal.  The 
day  they  divide  according  to  the  sun*s 
course  into  three  or  four  parts  of  in- 
definite length."  *  Chronology  they 
have  none,  nor  indeed  is  such  a  thing 
possible  among  a  people  whose  mem- 
ory scarce  goes  back  of  yesterday,  t 
The  mere  narration  of  historical  facts 
were  therefore  an  impossibility  for 
them,  even  if  they  had  a  history. 
But  as  their  lives  are  uneventful,  they 
furnish  no  material  for  history.  Let 
us  consider  what  events  transpire 
among  them  that  might  be  deemed 
worthy  of  remembrance.  The  day 
opens  ;  they  feel  hungry ;  they  take 
some  game  ;  they  sleep  :  then  they 
repeat  da  capo.  "  Though  the  Amer- 
ican Indians  resemble  the  natives  of 
Africa  and  of  the  Polar  Regions  in 
their  distaste  for  work,  they  differ 
from  them  in  this  that  they  love  re- 
pose above  all  things  ;  while  the  oth- 
ers rather  love  to  give  themselves  up 
to  sport  and  enjoyment.  The  Indian 
never  exerts  himself,  except  where 
exertion  is  unavoidable  ,  and  when  the- 
hunt  is  over  he  enjoys  undisturbed 
repose  in  his  hammock."!  Hence  the 
life  of  the  savage  is  uneventful,  mo- 
notonous, stagnant.  The  individual 
may  be  developed  to  a  certain  degree  ; 
but  not  so  the  tribe.  "  The  total  de- 
velopment of  all  the  successive  gen- 
erations of  a  Bushman  stock  is  lit- 
tle more  than  the  development  of  the 
first  Bushman."  §  "  Some  tribes  have 
legends  and  ballads  recounting  sundry 
warlike  exploits  of  their  forefathers, 
but   these    records   do    not    refer   to 

*  Wuttke,  I.  S.  156. 
t  Bastian,  S.  100. 
X  Wuttke.  I.  S.  164. 

§  Cf.  the  Author's  work  "  Die  Thierseele." 
Leipzig,  iS5S,  Cap.  I.  §  2. 


> 


I  !  riCHISM. 


events  df  any  antiquity.       Most   sav- 
are   as  destitute   of  historic  rec- 
as  though  they  were  the  primitive 
stock   of   mankind,  and    just   sprung 
into   exist  I  he   ( rreenlanders, 

who  >tand  o  >iisiderably  above  the  low- 

savagery,  have,  ii 
of  I.  ■  .  nly  ,i;i'nc.il"-H^,  often 
times  of  ten  generations."  *  Simi- 
lar genealogical  lists,  but  not  so  long, 
found  among  Negroes,  Indians 
am!  South  Sea  Islanders:  hut  never 
actual  history.  In  fact,  they  regard 
the  past  as  very  unimportant:  and 
even  those  among  them  whose  intel- 
lect is  somewhat  developed  prefer 
legend  to  history. 

\>  the  world  of  such  savages  is  ex- 
tremely narrow  and  circumscribed, 
the  number  of  conceptions  formed 
by  them  is  necessarily  very  scanty. 
Their  notions  are  merely  of  the  things 
of  sense,  and  they  think  not  at  all — if 
by  thinking  is  meant  the  elaboration 
of  conceptions  not  immediately  refera- 
ble to  sensible  objects.  He  who  en- 
tertains no  thoughts  is  unable  to  give 
expression  to  thoughts.  Hence,  from 
the  conditions  of  life  amid  which  sav- 
ages are  placed  it  flows  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  that  their  language 
will  be  as  undeveloped  and  as  scanty 
as  their  circle  of  conceptions. t  They 
can  have  words  only  for  those  objects 
of  which  they  are  cognizant.  But  as 
these  objects  are  but  few;  it  follows 
that  their  vocabulary  must  be  scant. 
Then,  inasmuch  as  they  have  no  ab- 
stract notions,  they  cannot  have  any 
words  to  express  objects  not  directly 
perceived  by  the  senses.  In  the  next 
place  their  language  will  be  very  defi- 
cient in  those  formulas  which  simply 
indicate  the  mutual  relations  of  ob- 
jects, as  recognized  by  the  human 
mind,  and  hence  will  lack  inflexions, 
conjunctions  and  prepositions.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Negro  languages  are 
generally  very  defective  :  the  Language 
spoken    in    Acra    and    in    Kami    has 

Cranzen's    Historic  von    Gronland 
Barln  .   i  -■   :.  I 

Steinthal,  Die  Mande-Neger-Spra- 
chen,  psychologisch  und  phonetisch  bctrach- 
i  ■      Berlin,] 


neither     adverbs     nor     prepositions: 

neither  a  comparative  degree,  nor  a 

passive  voice.*  From  this  We  may 
conclude  that  the  people  who  speak 
these  languages  are  still  ignorant  of 
some  of  the  most  elementary  distinc- 
tions between  conceptions,  and  that 
they  remain  through  life  in  the  same 
low  stage  of  intellectual  development 
in  which  children  among  us  arc- 
found  when  they  are  learning  to 
speak.  It  is  stated  that  the  Bushmen 
of  South  Africa  are  not  distinguished 
from  one  another  by  separate  names.t 
and  Herodotus  makes  the  same  state- 
ment as  to  a  tribe  dwelling  in  the  - 
hara,  the  Atarantes  :  "  They  alone  of 
men,  so  far  .is  I  can  learn,  are  without 
names."  % 

Inasmuch  as  the  circle  of  their 
conceptions  embraces  only  sensible 
objects,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  on 
the  whole  they  will  discriminate  more 
nicely  between  such  objects  than  we 
cm,  provided  a  considerable  number 
of  them  come  under  their  cognizance. 
The  reason  of  this  is  that  their  senses 
are  constantly  exercised,  and  that 
they  have  no  abstract  notions  to  di- 
vert their  attention.  Hence  the 
North  American  Indians  perceive  dis- 
tinctions, and  mark  these  distinctions 
with  special  names,  where  we  use  one 
general  term.  Thus,  for  instance, 
in  place  of  our  one  verb  "  to  go  "  they 
have  many  words,  one  signifying  "  to 
go  in  the  morning,"  another  "  in  the 
evening,"  another  "  to  go  in  moc- 
casins," etc.  Everything  is  viewed 
as  unique  and  individual,  and  as 
though  it  had  no  connection,  no  re- 
lation with  other  things.  This  is 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  savage  does 
not  compare  his  conceptions  with  one 
another,  a  process  performed  not  by 
the  senses  but  by  the  intellect.  Hence 
it  is  that  the  languages  of  the  Indians 
abound  in  sesquipedalian  word-com- 
binations to  express  purely  coYi- 
crete  notions.    But  these  combinations 


4  Bowdich,  p.  470. 

t  Lichtenstein,  R.  um  siidl.  Afrika  (1S03-6), 
I.  192,  II.  82. 

I  Herodot.   IV.  1S1.      Cf.  Plin.   Hist.  Xat. 

v.  s. 


FETICHISM. 


9 


are  as  void  of  intellectual  suggestion 
as  they  are  minute  in  describing 
every  outward  aspect  and  every 
minor  particular  of  the  object ;  and 
this  very  minuteness  so  fatigues  and 
distracts  the  attention,  that  the  main 
object  is  often  obscured  and  hid  from 
view.  Awkward  story-tellers  have  the 
like  habit.  Instead  of  going  direct 
to  the  kernel  of  the  story,  they  ramble 
away  from  it,  and  go  into  such  long 
and  minute  explanations,  that  at  length 
they  do  not  themselves  know  what 
they  had  intended   to  communicate. 

This  redundancy  of  words  is  really 
a  sign  of  a  weak  and  uncritical  un- 
derstanding, unable  to  handle  all  its 
material  by  the  principle  of  unity. 
Each  phenomenon  as  it  appears  is 
taken  to  be  sui generis,  and  is  desig- 
nated by  a  special  name.  Hence 
such  languages,  dependent  as  they 
are  on  the  slightest  external  changes 
of  objects,  must  be  themselves  ever 
changing,  and  the  more  so,  as  they 
are  not  fixed  in  writing.  "  In  South 
African  villages,  where  the  children 
are  left  by  themselves  for  months  at 
a  time,  they  often  are  found,  when 
their  parents  return,  to  speak  a  lan- 
guage unintelligible  to  the  latter, 
and  the  missionaries  have  observed 
that  this  language  of  the  children  is 
different  for  almost  every  generation 
of  them.  Among  the  Australian 
tribes,  who  taboo  every  word  whose 
sound  could  remind  them  of  a  dead 
relative,  and  substitute  a  new  term, 
this  change  of  language  must  be  of 
still  more  frequent  occurrence.  The 
savage  coins  new  words  as  he  needs 
them  ;  and  when  the  laws  of  gram- 
mar will  not  bend  to  his  purpose,  or 
when  he  is  ignorant  of  them,  he 
makes  laws  to  suit  himself.  So  long 
as  languages  are  not  consolidated 
and  fixed  in  writing,  they  are  ever  in 
process  of  construction  :  and  the 
elaborate  grammars  written  by  the 
old  missionaries  with  the  assistance 
of  their  ingenious  penitents  would 
be  as  unintelligible  to  the  latter  as  the 
systems  of  religion  attributed  to 
them/'  *     "  The  American  languages, 

*  Bastian,  S.  38,  39,  40. 


.  generally  rich  in  grammatical  forms 
and  in  compound  words,  but  poor  in 
expression,  because  the  Indians  do 
not  think,  are  such  incoherent  con- 
glomerates that  when  families  or 
tribes  break  up,  a  notable  divergence 
,  of  language  among  the  sundered 
fragments  is  the  immediate  conse- 
quence." *  The  reason  of  this  is 
that  each  of  the  fragments  finds  itself 
amid  conditions  differing,  if  only 
slightly,  from  those  surrounding  the 
others.  As  the  objects  differ,  so 
will  the  conceptions,  and  the  lan- 
guages in  the  same  proportion ; 
for  mind  and  world  are  dependent 
on  one  another.  Whenever  a 
savage  tribe  is  not  tied  down  to  its 
native  soil  by  its  possessions  or 
by  some  law  of  necessity,  and 
wherever  its  migrations  are  not 
checked  by  the  previous  occupation 
of  the  surrounding  country,  it  readily 
breaks  up  into  smaller  clans,  and 
each  one  of  these  will  soon  have  its 
peculiar  dialect.  This  is  the  case  in 
America ;  and  Prince  Max  von  Neu- 
wied  gives  specimens  of  thirty-three 
different  North  American  languages 
which  he  himself  had  met  with.f 
In  what  was  once  Spanish  North 
America  there  are  over  twenty,  and 
in  all  America  about  500  languages 
entirely  different  from  one  another.^ 

2.   The  Morality  0/  the  Savage. 

We  have  seen  how  narrow  and  con- 
tracted is  the  intellectual  sphere,  the 
mental  horizon  of  savage  tribes, 
owing  to  the  circumstances  by  which 
they  are  surrounded.  Their  mental 
power  is  not  greater  than  that  of  the 
child.  But  besides  mind,  man  is  also 
possessed  of  will,  atid  it  is  will  that 
constitutes  his  moral  character.  Our 
present  task  therefore  is  to  study  the 
operations  of  the  savage's  will,  his 
moral  character. 

*  Max  von  Xeuwied,  Reise  in  Brasilien,  II. 
S.213. 

t  //'.  II.  445-645. 

J  Humboldt,  Essai  polit,  I.  352  ;  Adelung 
und  Vater,  Mithrid.  Til.  2,  370  ;  V.  Xeuwied, 
II.302;  Beechey,  Voy.  to  Pacific,  II.  139. 
For  Negro  languages  cf.  Bowdich,  454. 


LO 


I  I   IK  HISM. 


Man's  will  cannot  aim  at  an  ab- 
straction, or  at  the  indefinite,  but 
must  always  have  its  determinate 
In  this  it  resembles  the  un- 
derstanding, which  must  ,ilso  have 
a  definite  object  But  if  the  under- 
standing has  no  conceptions,  the  will 
can  have  no  objects,  tor  only  that 
which  is  the  ob  the  understand- 

ing can  be  an  object  of  the  will. 
e  the  savage  can  desire  only 
those  things  which  arc  found  in  the 
world  of  which  he  has  cognizance. 
But  this  world  is  different  for  different 
r.i.  es  :  for  one.  it  will  contain  many 
objects;  for  another,  but  few.  As 
for  the  savage,  his  world  is  very  con- 
tracted. Let  us  now  consider  what 
must  be  the  effect  upon  the  savage's 
will  of  a  greater  or  a  less  number  of 
objects. 

That  can  be  an  object  of  will  which 
is  perceived  by  the  understanding. 
The  first  object  which  a  man  is  con- 
scious of,  and  the  one  which,  as  being 
inseparable  from  himself,  he  must 
always  have,  is  himself,*  his  own 
organism,  and  whatever  necessarily 
has  its  rise  in  it.  Man  is  an  organ- 
ism :  whatever  originates  in  this  or- 
ganism and  becomes  an  object  of 
consciousness — e.  g.,  the  natural  in- 
stincts and  appetites  (jiunger,  lust, 
desire  of  repose) — must  necessarily  be 
also  an  object  for  the  will ;  and  these 
objects  of  the  will  must  exist  in  all 
men,  whatever  their  culture,  simply 
because  man  is  an  organism.  Rut  to 
these  objects  which  are  common  to 
the  whole  race,  others  are  appended 
which  vary  according  to  the  condi- 
tions of  life  in  which  a  man  is  placed  ; 
and  in  proportion  as  the  world  around 
him  is  rich  or  scant  in  objects,  diver- 
sified or  uniform,  his  consciousness 
will  take  in  more  or  fewer  objects. 

Hence  the  objects  of  will  may  be 
divided  into  two  classes:  first,  those 
which  are  inseparable  from  the  or- 
ganism, and  which  we  may  call  the 
Instincts;  second,  those  which  are 
found    in    the    world    without.       Man 


Schopenhauer,    Vierfache    Wurzel,   3 
Aufl.'§  22. 


wills    both    of    these :  still    it    is    1 

that,  all  things  else  being  equal,  a 

man  will  expend  less  will-force  upon 
individual    objects,    in    proportion    as 

their  number  is  greater.  Further, 
it  is  (  lear  that  in  proportion  as 
he  exerts  his  will  in  one  direction, 
he  relaxes  it  in  another.  Hence  the 
greater  the  number  of  objects  found 
without  the  organism,  and  the  stronger 
die  energy  of  will  with  which  they 
are  desired,  the  more  is  the  will 
withdrawn  from  those  immediately 
connected  with  the  organism,  that  is, 
from  the  natural  instincts.  Con- 
versely, too,  the  fewer  objects  a  man 
has,  derived  from  the  outer  world,  and 
the  less  his  will  is  attracted  by  these, 
the  more  will  he  be  controlled  by  his 
instincts,  and  the  more  time  and  at- 
tention will  he  devote  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  these.  Heine  it  is  no  wonder 
if  the  so-called  civilized  man  controls 
his  instincts  more  easily  than  the  sav- 
age, seeing  that  his  will  is  directed 
toward  so  many  objects  outside  his 
organism.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  at  finding 
savages,  who  are  controlled  by  these 
instincts,  committing  excesses  in  the 
gratification  of  them,  which  to  us  ap- 
pear to  be  brutal  and  shame' 

The  savage  has  no  intellectual  ob- 
jects, and  consequently  no  intellectual 
occupations.  He  can  occupy  him- 
self only  with  such  objects  as  are 
given  to  him  in  consciousness ;  hence 
only  with  such  as  remain  after  we 
shut  out  all  intellectual  objects,  viz. : 
hunger,  lust,  indolence.  As  objects 
in  the  external  world  he  has  none, 
or  but  few,  he  cannot  occupy  himself 
with  them. 

When  he  has  appeased  his  hunger, 
there  is  nothing  more  for  him  to  do, 
so  he  will  play,  or  sleep,  or  engage  in 
debauch ;  and  as  this  is  the  only- 
course  open  to  him,  he  will  go  to  ex- 
cess. He  must  needs  act  thus,  nor 
can  he  do  otherwise:  and  surely  that 
is  not  to  be  accounted  a  crime  in  him, 
which  is  the  necessary  product  of  his 
natural  condition.  The  unrestrained 
gratification  of  natural  instincts  is  as 
clearly  right  in  the  savage  (taking  his 


FETICH  ISM. 


LI 


world  into  account)  as  it  would  be 
wrong  in  us,  whose  world  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  his.  Hence  morality,  as 
interpreted  by  us,  has  no  application 
to  the  savage.  Our  refined  distinc- 
tions in  question  of  morals  do  not  ex- 
ist for  him  :  his  obtuseness  of  under- 
standing is  such  that  he  cannot  grasp 
them.  Our  definition  of  good  and  evil 
applies  to  him  as  little  as  to  beasts, 
and  it  were  unjust  to  measure  him  by 
such  a  standard,  or  to  require  him  to 
conform  to  it.  He  can  recognize  no 
law  save  that  of  instinct,  so  long  as 
his  world  remains  contracted.  What- 
ever his  instincts  require,  that  he 
seeks ;  what  they  reject,  that  he 
avoids.  As  his  will  is  attached  to  tri- 
fling objects,  they  being  the  only  ob- 
jects he  possesses,  he  must  needs  es- 
teem as  highly  things  of  no  value  to  us, 
as  we  esteem  things  of  high  importance 
to  us,  though  of  no  account  to  him. 
Hence  matters  perfectly  indifferent  to 
us  will  have  for  him  moral  importance 
(if  we  may  so  speak)  ;  and  conversely, 
what  we  take  to  be  highly  important 
will  be  indifferent  to  him,  because  his 
will  is  not  directed  toward  it.  By 
the  aid  of  these  principles  we  can  ex- 
plain such  traits  as  the  following : 
Certain  Bushmen,  being  asked  by  a 
European  what  they  meant  by  good 
and  what  by  bad,  could  not  give  any 
reply :  but  they  held  fratricide  to 
be  perfectly  harmless.*  The  Kamt- 
chatdales  hold  that  an  act  is  sinful 
which  is  unlucky:  for  instance,  to 
visit  hot  springs ;  to  brush  snow  off  the 
shoes  out  of  doors  ;  to  seize  a  red-hot 
coal  otherwise  than  with  the  fingers, 
when  you  would  light  your  pipe  ,  to 
bring  home  the  first  fox  you  have 
taken  ■,  to  tread  in  the  tracks  of  a  bear, 
etc.f  The  Orangoo  Negroes  hold 
it  sinful  to  spit  on  the  earth, %  while 
the  natives  of  Labrador  regard  noth- 
ing as  sinful  save  only  the  murder  of 
an  innocent  man.§ 

*Burchell,  I.  33S,  340. 

t  G.  YV.  Steller,  Beschreibung  von  Kamt- 
schatka.  Frankfurt  unci  Leipzig,  1774,  S. 
274. 

\  Bastian,  261. 

$  Nachrichten  aus  der  Brudergemeinde, 
835,  No.  5. 


In  the  gratification  of  his  indolence, 
hunger  and  lust  the  savage  can  ac- 
knowledge no  restraint,  as  he  has  no 
outward  objects  to  counterbalance 
them.  But  here  another  point  is  to 
be  considered,  namely,  that  this  un- 
restraint tends  to  grow  from  day  to 
clay.  Egoism  prompts  each  individ- 
ual savage  to  assert  his  mastery  over 
all  others.  Hence  the  quarrels  and 
competitions  of  man  against  man,  each 
striving  to  surpass  the  other.  But 
since  this  competition  must  regard 
only  those  activities  which  occupy  the 
savage,  and  as  these  three  instincts  fur- 
nish his  chief  occupation,  it  follows 
that  the  natural  condition  of  unre- 
straint will  be  carried  by  competition 
to  a  truly  bestial  degree  of  perfection 
in  indolence,  gluttony  and  lust.  The 
Missouri  Indians  used  to  practice 
promiscuous  intercourse  as  a  point  of 
honor.*  In  like  manner,  in  Tahiti 
and  the  adjacent  islands,  there  was 
the  association  of  the  Arreoi,  who 
made  it  a  point  of  honor  to  practice 
unchastity  in  all  its  degrees. 

The  Indian  never  exerts  himself  ex- 
cept so  far  as  strict  necessity  requires. 
After  the  hunt,  unbroken  repose. 
The  women  do  all  the  work,  as  is  the 
universal  rule  among  savages.  "  An 
Indian  chief  once  said  to  a  white  man, 
'  Oh,  brother,  you  will  never  learn 
what  happiness  it  is  to  think  of  noth- 
ing and  to  do  nothing  :  this  is,  next 
after  sleep,  the  most  delightful  thing 
on  earth.  That  was  our  condition  be- 
fore we  were  born,  and  will  be  our 
condition  after  we  die.'  Then,  after 
expressing  his  contempt  for  the  rest- 
less life  of  the  white  man,  he  went  on  : 
'  But  we  live  for  the  present  moment. 
The  past  is  but  smoke  driven  by  the 
wind.  As  for  the  future,  where  is  it  ? 
As  it  has  not  yet  come,  we  shall  never 
see  it  perhaps.  Let  us  then  enjoy  the 
day  that  is,  for  to-morrow  it  will  be 
gone  far  from  us  ! '  "  t  It  is  plain  that 
among  such  people,  to  whom  the  past 
has   bequeathed   no   problems    to   be 


*M.  v.  Neuwied,  Nordamerika,  II.  131. 

I  Crevecoeur.  Voy.  dans  la  haute  Pensylva- 
nie  et  dans  l'etat  de  New-York.  Far.  1801, 
Vol.  I.  p.  362. 


12 


i  I    I  1 1   lll.s.M. 


solved,  no  tasks  to  be  performed,  am! 
win)  will  themselves  bequeath  none 
to  futurity,  there  can  be  no  ad\  am  e 
in  knowledge  or  in  morals.  "The 
boy  a.  1 1  impanies  h i ^  father  :  it'  the 
latter  follows  any  pursuit  —  fishing,  foi 
instance — the  SOn  too  learns  tin- • 

But  inasmuch  as  the  Negroes 
the  greafer  part  of  their  time  in  doing 
nothing,  tin:  education  thus  obtain- 
ed is  of  no  importance."  *  In  the 
South  Sea  Islands  the  grandees  have 
the  food  put  in  their  mouths  l>i;  by 
bit.t     Iii  Tahiti  the  missionaries,  hav- 

ndeavored  to  introduce  the  art 
of  weaving,  all  the  girls  who  had  come 
to  learn  quit  work  after  a  few  days. 
saying,  "Why  should  we  work?  Have 
we  not  as  much  bread-fruit  and  co- 
coa-nuts as  we  can  eat  ?  You  who 
need  ships  and  fine  clothes  must  work  : 
but  we  are  content  with  what  we 
have."  t 

Lust  and  gluttony  are  regarded  by 
all  savages  as  the  acme  of  earthly  fe- 
licity.    The  inhabitants  of   Northern 

perform  wonderful  feats  of  gor- 
mandizing. Three  Yakuts  will  de- 
vour a  reindeer  at  one  meal,  including 
the  contents  of  the  intestines,  and  a 
single  Yakut  once  devoured  28  lbs. 
of  porridge  with  3  lbs.  of  butter.? 
The  baptized  Kamtchatdales  often 
saw  as  they  recall  the  past  when  they 
were  still  heathen:  "When  do  we 
ever  have  jovial  days  now?  Time 
was  when  we  used  to  bespew  the  whole 
floor  of  the  hut  three  or  four  times  a 
dav.but  now  we  can  do  it  but  rarely  even 

a  dav.  Formerly  we  could  wade 
ankle-deep  in  spew,  now  the  soles  of 
our  feet  even  are  not  wet  ted."  ||  "  In 
all  Negro  languages  the  word  belly  is 
one  of  great import."U     Politeness  re- 


*    Halleur,  das    Leben    der    Neger  West- 
!  in  Vortrag.     Berlin,  [85  .  S.    11. 
Mn;um,  R.  nacfa  Guinea,  170S,  S.  [48. 
'  t  I  206. 

t  Beech    .1    537. 

11  hrane,  Travels  on  Foot  through  Sibe- 
ria, 155;  J.  Sarytschew,   Achtjalhrige   Reise 
im  nordostlichen  Sibirien,  auf  dem  Eismeere 
Aus  d.  Russis- 
chen  ubei  s.     I  1  ipz.  1805,  I.  S.  129. 
Steller,  Kamtschatka,  S.  286. 
"ff  Bastian,  S.  35. 


quires    that  one  Inquire  if  all   is   well 
with  his  neighbor's  belly.     The  South 

Sea   Islanders  call    thoughts,  words  in 

tin-  belly.     The  stoma*  h  of  one  who 

-  kept  as  a   relir  ;   and    the  K.TOO 
eshold  that  the  Stomach  ascends 

into  heaven  after  death.* 

As  regards  the  passion  of  lust,  the 
absolute  shamelessness  of  the  savage 
almost  surpasses  belief.      The   Bush- 
men   have  only  one   word    to  signify 
girl,   maiden    and   wife;   they    consult 
together  like  cattle,  have  no  real  mar- 
.  and  the  men  exchange  their  wo- 
men   freely. t     "Woman    is   a  chattel, 
to    be    bought    and    sold,    having   no 
rights  of  choice  or  of  refusal.     Being 
a  mere  possession,  not  the  object  of 
love,  when    by    reason   of  age  or   for 
any  other    cause   she  can    no    longer 
minister  to    lust,  she  becomes   a   de- 
spised thing,  without  any  rights,  often 
contemned  even  by  her  own  children, 
shut  out  from   the  ceremonies  of  re- 
ligion,  oftentimes  even  forbid  to  come 
near  the  sanctuary  as  being  unclean, 
and  in  death  she  is  esteemed  unworthy 
of  being  lamented."!     "  In  Nucahiva 
the   bride  is  the  property  of  all  the 
male  guests   for    the   space  of   three 
days."§      Bushmen  and  California  In- 
dians  make  no  account  of    blood-re- 
lationship,    and     incest    is    common 
among  many  Indian  tribes. ||      Among 
the   Aleutian   Islanders  brothers    and 
sisters,    children    and     parents,    have 
sexual   commerce   with    one   another, 
alleging   the    example    of   the  seal. IT 
South  American    savages,  the  Puris, 
Botokuds    and    others,    and    most    of 
the    New    Holland   tribes,  go  entirely 
naked,  while  among  the  South  Sea  Is- 
landers, at  least  the  men,  if  not  both 
sexes,  wear  no  bodily  covering.     Some 
Indian  tribes  use  clothing   to   protect 
them   against    the   weather,  but  disre- 
gard the  claims  of  modesty.**     Sodo- 


*  //-.,  S.  207. 

t  Lichtenstein,  R.  in  Afrika,  II.  376  ;  Camp- 
bell,  1  -v 

.  Wuttke,  I.  177. 
S  Langsdorff,  Reise,  I.  132. 
I  schwege,     fount,  v.   Brasilien,   I.   121; 
Mat  kenzie,  Travels  through  X.  America,  108. 

•  I  angsdorff,  1 1.  ^43. 

**  Mackenzie,  5471.     Cf.  Wuttke,  I.  182. 


FETICHISM. 


IS 


my  is  wide-spread  in  certain  tribes.* 
The  South  Sea  Islanders  abandon 
themselves  at  a  very  early  age  to  the 
most  unbridled  licentiousness ;  and 
their  songs,  dances  and  shows  are  in- 
stinct with  sensuality.t  The  Tun- 
goos  have  wanton  dances  which  con- 
clude with  the  stripping  off  of  all  cloth- 
ing and  indulgence  in  unlimited  de- 
bauchery ;t  and  immoral  dances  pre- 
vail throughout  all  Northern  Asia.§ 
The  Greenlanders  and  Eskimos  are 
notorious,  but  the  life  led  by  the 
Kamtchatdales  in  former  times  was 
bestial.  All  their  thoughts  and  imag- 
inations were  concerned  with  unchas- 
tity,  and  even  little  children  delighted 
their  parents  by  licentious  indulgence. 
Adultery  was  universal,  and  the  women 
used  to  boast  of  it.  Strangers  were 
required  to  make  return  for  any  ser- 
vice they  received,  by  ministering  to 
the  ruling  passion  ;  and  men  and  wo- 
men engaged  in  unnatural  and  sodom- 
itic  commerce.  They  were  acquaint- 
ed with  syphilis,  as  they  themselves 
admit,  long  before  the  advent  of  Eu- 
ropeans. || 

Where  there  in  no  moral  family  life 
there  can  be  no  family,  in  our  sense 
of  the  word,  that  is,  with  the  members 
united  together  in  love  and  friendship. 
Here  the  rule  of  the  stronger  prevails, 
and  the  man  is  everything.  "  The 
idea  of  the  State  is  nowhere  IF  devel- 
oped, and  the  individual,  instead  of 
gaining  strength  from  union  with 
others,  imagines  himself  to  be  safe 
from  danger  only  when  he  oppresses 
all  around  him.  The  father  makes 
slaves  of  his  children,  and  the  hus- 
band enslaves  the  wife,  in  order  that 
he  himself  may  be  free  :  and  he  is  free 
so  long  as  he  does  not  meet  some  one 
mightier  than  he,  for  then  the  domes- 
tic tyrant  falls  himself  under  the  con- 
trol of  an  inexorable  master.  His 
neighbor  he  regards  as  his  foe.     In 


*Eschwege,  I.  132  ;  Franklin's  First  Voy- 
age, 7273- 

t  Mackenzie,  108. 

}  Ermann,  Reise  um  die  Erde  II.  36. 

§  Cochrane,  298. 

II  Steller,  Kamtschatka,  287,  350,  357. 

If  Among  savages. 


short,  nothing  can  be  more  foreign  to 
the  savage  mind  and  the  state  of  sav- 
agery than  the  dogma  of  Universal 
Equality."*  "The  child  has  no 
rights,  being  simply  the  chattel  of  his 
parents,  who  can  do  with  him  as  they 
please,  without  being  bound  to  him  by 
any  obligations.  Rarely  do  they  ex- 
hibit any  true  parental  love  for  their 
children,  beyond  the  fondness  of  ani- 
mals for  their  young ;  and  when  a 
child  is  born  to  them  inopportunely, 
or  when  they  take  a  dislike  to  it,  it  is- 
put  to  death ;  and  the  fearful  crimes 
of  infanticide,  foeticide,  abortion, 
abandonment  and  sale,  and  even 
slaughter  and  eating  of  children,  are 
so  common  as  to  explode  all  the  sen- 
timental idyllic  tirades  that  have  ever 
been  sung  about  the  innocent  life  of 
man  in  the  state  of  nature."  f 

When  such  are  the  relations  be- 
tween parent  and  child,  education  is. 
out  of  the  question.  The  American 
Indians  are  pleased  when  they  see  the 
child  strike  its  mother  and  refuse  to 
obey  her.  "  He  will  one  clay  be  a 
brave  warrior,"  say  they.  Among 
them  obedience  and  respect  for  pa- 
rents are  very  rare,  t  Among  the 
Kamtchatdales  children  never  ask 
their  parents  for  anything,  but  take  it 
without  more  ado :  and  they  never 
manifest  joy  on  seeing  their  parents 
after  a  protracted  separation  from 
them.§  Among  the  Tungoos  duels 
between  father  and  son  are  frequent, 
and  not  seldom  terminate  fatally.  || 
The  Arekuna,  as  in  Guiana,  bring  up 
children  and  monkeys  together.  The 
monkeys  are  members  of  the  family, 
eat  with  the  other  members,  are 
suckled  by  the  women,  and  have  great 
affection     for    their    human    nurses. 


*  Bastian,  S.  67,  68. 

t  Wuttke,  Gesch.  der  Heidenthums,  I.  S. 
1S5. 

t  M.  v.  Neuwied,  Nordamerika,  II.  129; 
Mackenzie,  106;  Franklin,  First  Voy.  73; 
Eschwege,  I.  121;  Spix  u.  Martius,  Reise, 
I.  S.  380. 

§  Steller,  Kamtschatka,  S.  353.  Cf.  Wuttke, 
I.  187,  ff. 

||  Georgi,  Beschr.  einer  Reise  durch  das 
Russische  Reich  im  J.  1772,  S.  242.  Cf.  M_ 
v.  Neuwied,  R.  in  Brasilien,  I.  141,  146. 


u 


FETK  HISM. 


( Oftentimes  a  woman  is  to  be  seen  with 

a  child  and  .1  monkey  .u  the  breast, 
the  two  nurselings  quarrelin 

As  the  parents  <  are  little  for  the 
children,  so  in  turn  the  children  care 
little  for  the  parents.  When  the 
Aim  in  .in  Indians  go  out  on  their 
hunting  expeditions  they  often  leave 
behind  in  a  state  of  utter  destitution 
the  aged  and  the  infirm  who  are  un- 
able to  make  the  tramp  :f  and  in 
most  of  the  tribes  it  is  customary 
for  relatives  to  dispatch  the  old  and 
the  feeble  without  remonstrance  from 
the  victims,  t  The  Bechuanas  have 
less  regard  for  the  aged  than  for  cat- 
tle, and  abandon  them  to  their  fate 
without  compunction. §  Their  neigh- 
bors, the  Corannas,  expose  the  old 
people  to  wild  beasts,  they  being,  as 
they  >>ay,  of  no  account,  and  only 
serving  to  use  up  the  provisions. || 
Among  the  Bushmen  the  daughter 
often  turns  her  old  mother  out  ol  the 
hut,  and  leaves  her  to  be  devoured  by 
wild  beasts.  Sons  put  their  fathers 
to  death  with  impunity. H  The  Kamt- 
chatdales  often  eject  the  sick  from 
their  house  and  cast  them  to  the 
dogs  ;  **  and  the  Eskimo  often  bun- 
alive  old  sickly  widows,  and  not  un- 
frequently  suffer  old  men  to  perish 
of  hunger.ft 

3.  Conclusion. 

We  have  now  set  forth  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  condition  of  the 
Savage  SO  far  as  was  needful  for  our 
present  purpose.  Our  criticism,  aid- 
ed by  experimental  investigation,  un- 
folds before  our  eyes  a  picture  very 
different  from  what  certain  enthusi- 
asts would  paint,  who  hold  the  present 

*  K.  Schomburgk  in  the  "  Ausland,"  No. 

CSV 

t  Mackenzie,  431  :  Franklin,  First  Voyage, 
192  ;   Si.  ond,  91. 

J  Robertson,  History  of  America,  I.  466; 
Mai  kenzie,  il>. 

$  Campbell,  Trav.  in  S.  Africa,  49,  245. 

||  //\,  Second  lournev,  25S. 
272. 

**  Steller,  S.  271. 

tt  Cranz, Gronland, 201 ;  Hecchev.  II.  304 
Bastian  niakc^  a  similar  statement  as  to  Ne 
groes,  S.  320. 


condition  of  civilized  man  to  be  a 
i  ..i  ruption,  a  degeneration    from  the 

primitive     innocence     and     purity     of 

man  in  his  natural  state.  An  indo- 
lent savage,  who  lias  neither  objects 
nor  aims  nor  ambitions  to  occupy 
his  mind,  can  never  be  moral. 

( >i  course  the  picture  we  have 
painted  does  not  represent  with  equal 
fidelity  all  savages,  for  there  are  de- 
grees of  higher  and  lower  even  in 
savagery.  We  are  not  called  upon 
here  to  ascertain  the  specific  differ- 
ences of  these  various  degrees ;  it  is 
sufficient  if  we  have  an  idea  of  the 
average  condition  of  the  savage  intel- 
lectually and  morally  considered. 

The  savage's  world  is  narrow  and 
contracted,  presenting  but  few  ob- 
jects, and  hence  he  has  but  few  con- 
ceptions. But  the  fewer  his  concep- 
tions the  less  does  he  distinguish  be- 
tween them  ;  i.e.,  the  less  he  thinks, 
the  less  is  his  faculty  of  thought  ex- 
ercised, and  the  greater  is  his  stupid- 
itv.  Then,  his  will  can  be  directed 
only  upon  the  objects  given  him 
through  his  understanding.  But 
since  external  objects  there  are  none 
to  engage  it,  of  course  all  its  energies 
must  be  expended  upon  internal  ob- 
jects, of  which  he  is  conscious  through 
his  organism.  Hence  he  is  as  free 
from  restraint  as  a  beast  in  the  grati- 
fication of  his  instincts.  Such  is  the 
savage,  and  such  he  must  be  ;  for  in- 
tellect, world  and  will  are  insepara- 
ble; one  never  stands  without  the 
others ;  they  stand  ever  together,  or 
they  exist  not  at  all.  It  is  needless 
to  inquire  which  has  precedence,  for 
they  all  three  make  up  the  essence 
of  man.  His  intellect  extends  as  far 
as  his  world,  and  his  will  extends 
only  so  far  as  his  intellect,  or  his 
world.  Conversely,  too,  his  world  ex- 
tends only  so  far  as  his  intellect  and 
his  will. 


FETICHISM. 


15 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    RELATION    BETWEEN    THE   SAVAGE 
MIND    AND    ITS    OBJECT. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have 
been  laying  the  foundation  for  a  cor- 
rect understanding  of  fetichism,  and 
have  ascertained  the  range  of  the 
savage  intellect.  As  fetichism  is 
really  a  mode  of  intellectual  appre- 
hension, we  had  first  to  study  that 
particular  phase  of  the  understanding 
wherein  a  sensible  object  obtains  sig- 
nificance as  a  fetich.  It  remains  for 
us  now  in  the  present  chapter  to  show 
what  is  the  necessary  relation  of 
the  savage  mind  to  its  object ;  for  it 
is  this  relation  which  gives  rise  to  the 
fetichistic  apprehension  of  objects, 
and  which  accounts  for  it. 

i.  The  Value  of  Objects. 

As  things  are  for  us  what  we  appre- 
hend them  to  be,  so  their  value  for 
us  will  be  in  accordance  with  our  ap- 
prehension of  them.  Now  the  mind 
has  a  clearer  and  more  exact  appre- 
hension of  objects  in  proportion  as 
it  distinguishes  between  them  more 
clearly.  Therefore  the  sharper  the 
distinctions  we  can  make  with  regard 
to  the  minutest  details  of  an  object, 
the  more  exactly  can  we  determine 
its  value.  An  object  is  distinctly  ap- 
prehended, only  when  we  can  dis- 
criminate between  it  and  other  ob- 
jects. If  therefore  I  would  form  a 
clear  understanding  and  an  accurate 
estimate  of  a  thing,  I  must  also  clear- 
ly understand  all  other  objects  re- 
lated to  it ;  and  so  I  cannot  rightly 
estimate  anything  without  an  ac- 
quaintance with  a  number  of  other  ( 
tilings.  My  estimate  of  things  will 
thus  vary  according  to  the  number  of 
objects  of  which  I  take  cognizance.  | 
But  since  all  things  stand  to  each 
other  in  a  causal  relation,  it  follows 
that  a  perfectly  exact  estimate  of  any 
single  object  can  only  be  had  when 
the  entire  series  is  known.  For  the  , 
greater  the  number  of  the  objects  ap- ' 
prehended,  the  better  do  we  under- 
stand the   interrelations  of  them  all,  | 


and  so  the  causal  value  of  each.  On 
the  contrary,  the  smaller  the  number 
of  objects,  the  less  accurate  will  be 
our  estimate  of  each. 

The  mind,  then,  whose  object-world 
is  very  contracted  must  of  necessity 
form  a  very  different  estimate  of  things 
from  that  formed  by  a  mind  which 
has  many  objects,  nor  will  its  estimate 
be  as  exact  as  that  of  the  latter. 
From  all  this  it  follows  that  the  esti- 
mate formed  of  things  by  children  as 
well  as  by  savages  must  be  very  dif- 
ferent from  our  estimate,  as  their 
world  is  very  contracted  and  the  num- 
ber of  their  objects  very  limited. 

The  untutored  intellect  which,  as 
having  but  few  objects,  is  defective  in 
the  power  of  distinction,  cannot  esti- 
mate the  true  value  of  things.  It  is 
liable  either  to  overestimate  objects 
or  to  undervalue  them.  It  can  esti- 
mate only  the  objects  which  it  has. 
As  it  knows  only  these  and  is  ignorant 
of  all  others,  it  cannot  compare  the 
known  with  the  unknown,  and  the 
known  must  of  necessity  be  esteemed 
the  best  and  the  most  precious.  The 
peasant  who  has  never  left  his  native 
soil,  regards  his  home  as  the  most  de- 
sirable place  on  earth,  though  the  soil 
be  half  bog.  Be  the  objects  which 
the  untutored  mind  contemplates 
never  so  lowly,  and  worthy  only  of 
contempt  as  viewed  by  a  mind  which 
has  a  wider  range,  still  it  will  set  an 
exorbitant  value  on  them  inasmuch  as 
they  are  the  only  objects  it  contem- 
plates. On  the  other  hand,  as  there 
are  many  objects  which  do  not  occur 
to  the  undeveloped  mind  (v.g.  objects 
of  a  purely  intellectual  value)  these  it 
will  not  estimate  aright,  or  in  other 
words,  not  according  to  their  true 
worth.  It  will  undervalue  them. 
The  peasant  values  his  field  of  rye  . 
not  so  the  rare  varieties  of  flower;, 
growing  in  the  neighborhood ;  he 
knows  nothing  about  these.  If  his 
mind  were  stored  with  as  many  plant- 
objects  as  is  that  of  the  botanist ;  if 
he  were  acquainted  with  their  differ- 
ent classes  and  their  mutual  relations, 
he  would  value  these  rare  flowers  ;  as 
it  is,  he  plucks  them  up  as  weeds  and 


L6 


I  I    1  l<    IIIsM. 


them  away.  His  undeveloped 
understanding  does  not  apprehend 
distinctions  between  things,  and  as  he 
cannot  distinguish  between  them,  they 
are  all  alike  to  him.  For  him  l< 
are  leaves,  and  he  knows  no  such  dis- 
tinctions as  heart-shaped,  lancet- 
shaped  leaves,  etc.  objects  with 
which  he  is  unacquainted  he  under- 
values in  proportion  to  Ids  ignorance 
of  them. 

The  fewer  and  less  important  the 
;s  which  a  man  possesses,  the 
more  excessive  will  be  his  overesti- 
He  will  discern  valuable  treas- 
ures in  trifles  which,  to  a  mind  of 
greater  range,  will  appear  as  very 
nothings.  It  a  man  is  worth  a  million 
of  dollars,  a  few  pence  will  be  a  trifle 
in  his  eves:  but  if  a 'man  has  only  a 
few  pence,  then  one  penny  will  have 
a  considerable  value  for  him.  If  then 
we  would  determine  what  are  the  ob- 
jects which  a  man  will  regard  as  val- 
uable, we  must  take  account  of  how 
many  objects  he  has.  What  then  are 
the  objects  that  a  child  will  prize  ? 
Those  which  he  has.  What  are  these  ? 
Let  us  consider  those  which  he  //as 
not.  He  has  none  of  those  which  lie 
within  the  domain  of  science  or  of  art. 
He  has  none  of  those  things  which 
the  adult  values,  steady  occupation, 
its  products,  its  remuneration,  etc. 
He  values  only  those  things  which  he 
knows  and  has,  and  these  are  the 
merest  trifles,  his  playthings. 

Children  must  of  necessity  prize 
these  trifles,  lor  they  have  no  knowl- 
of  the  more  important  objects 
known  and  prized  by  adults.  It  is 
worth  while  to  observe  how  the  under- 
standing is  enlarged  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  objects  to  which  it  ad- 
dresses itself.  As  it  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  new  and  more  important 
objects,  its  standard  of  values  changes; 
o  long  as  these  new  objects  are 
unknown,  it  esteems  as  most  impor- 
tant those  objects  which  it  already 
has.  In  youth  we  have  a  very  differ- 
ent estimate  of  things  from  that  which 
we  have  in  old  age,  for  youth  does  not 
value  those  things  which  are  most 
prized   by  age.     In  like   manner  the 


child  does  not  value  the  objects  which 
are    of    importance   to   youth.     The 

child  values  only  the  objects  with  which 
he  is  ai  quainted.  But  these  must  be 
of  but  little  importance,  for  it  is  only 
by  slow  degrees  that  the  mind  < 
to  value  objects  ol  real  importance. 
Inasmuch  as  every  object  is  a  novelty 
to  the  child,  it  is  a  necessity  for  him 
to  take  the  same  interest  in  trifling  ob- 
je<  ts  which  we  take  in  more  important 
ones.  The  '  liil<l  is  receiving  an  edu- 
cation, and  has  enough  to  OCCUpy  his 
mind  in  the  contemplation  of  familiar 
household  things.  For  these  alone  he 
has  eyes.  eats,  attention.  After  a  man 
is  grown  up  and  no  longer  admires, 
for  instance,  his  watch,  merely  glancing 
at  the  dial  to  ascertain  the  time  of  the 
day,  he  forgets  the  time  in  the  past 
when  things  now  the  most  familiar 
were  to  him  new  and  strange,  and 
wonders  that  the  child  should  want  to 
look  at  the  watch  again  and  again, 
and  to  listen  to  its  ticking.  Vet  noth- 
ing is  more  natural  or  more  inevitable 
for  as  yet  everything  is  a  novelty  to 
the  child.  We  say  that  children  play 
with  things.  If  by  play  we  mean  sim- 
ply pastime,  amusement,  we  do  not 
correctly  describe  the  occupation  of 
the  child,  who  is  as  seriously  employed 
with  his  toys  as  an  adult  might  be  in 
the  management  of  state  aft  aits. 
The  child's  play  is  work,  study,  acqui- 
sition of  knowledge,  and  occupat; 
the  mind  suited  to  the  measure  of  his 
faculties. 

We  have  been  somewhat  prolix  in 
describing  the  relation  of  the  infantile 
intelligence  to  its  objects,  for  the  rea- 
son that  it  throws  light  upon  the  mat- 
ter in  hand,  viz.,  the  relations  between 
the  mind  of  the  savage  and  its  objects. 
The  savage's  mind  is  in  the  same  em- 
bryonic state  as  that  of  the  infant. 
It  has  but  a  limited  range  of  objects, 
and  therefore  will  value  these,  however 
inconsiderable  they  may  be,  as  we 
value  objects  of  greater  moment.  Let 
us  take  an  inventory  of  the  posses- 
sions of  a  naked  savage,  a  Bushman, 
for  instance.  He  has  none  of  the 
products  of  industry  or  art ;  he  weaves 
not,  neither  does  he  spin  ;  he  neither 


FETICH  ISM. 


17 


plants  nor  gathers  in  a  harvest ;  he 
has  not  even  a  knife  beyond  some 
sharp-edged  stone  he  chances  to  find. 
He  knows  nothing  of  such  objects. 
Previous  to  his  coming  in  contact  with 
Europeans  he  has  no  idea  of  such  a 
trifling  thing  even  as  a  brass  button, 
or  a  nail.  What  then  does  he  possess  ? 
A  few  articles  that  he  has  chanced  to 
find,  that  he  has  picked  up  off  the 
ground,  or  found  growing  on  trees,  or 
taken  from  wild  beasts.  His  posses- 
sions consist  of  stones,  shells,  a 
club,  fruits,  peltries,  a  dead  carcass, 
skulls  and  bones,  teeth,  horns,  gaudy 
feathers,  fishbones — such  is  the  sum 
total  of  his  property.  "  The  Bushmen 
have  scarcely  any  possessions.  If 
they  steal  a  few  head  of  cattle,  they 
devour  as  much  as  they  can,  and  leave 
the  remainder  on  the  ground."  *  The 
negroes  of  West  Africa  are  more  fa- 
vored. "  Simpler  even  than  his  house 
is  the  furniture — a  bed  made  of  leaves 
and  rushes,  a  block  of  wood  for  a 
pillow,  a  few  pots  and  bowls,  a  gun 
and  a  long  knife,  with  a  few  large  and 
small  calabashes,  the  large  ones  used 
as  wardrobes  (his  clothing  being  a 
few  yards  of  cloth  to  wrap  around  the 
body),  and  as  receptacles  for  ball,  lead, 
powder,  etc. ;  the  small  ones  serving 
as  flagons.  And  that  is  about  all 
the  furniture  to  be  seen  in  a  negro's 
hut.'"  t 

Beyond  this  inventory  the  savage 
neither  has  nor  knows  of  any  posses- 
sions. He  must  therefore  overesti- 
mate these  objects.  Accordingly  a 
fishbone  will  serve  him  for  an  orna- 
ment.t  "  They  trick  themselves  out 
with  feathers,  shells  and  the  like, 
which  they  consider  things  of  beauty."§ 
If  now  they  meet  with  some  strange 
object,  a  nail,  for  instance,  or  a  glass 
bead,  or  a  bit  of  tinsel  ornament,  it 
excites  their  wonder,  and  they  long  to 
possess  it.  "The  sister  of  a  South 
Sea  Island  king  whose  subjects 
thought    themselves   highly  civilized, 

*  Lichtenstein,  Reise  im  Siidl.  Afrika,  1S03- 
6.     Berlin,  181 1,  II.  321,  83. 
t  Halleur,  23,  18. 
t  Bastian,  317. 
§  Halleur,  19. 


stole  a  couple  of  iron  nails  from 
Cook's  vessel,  and  her  brother  con- 
nived at  the  theft."  *  "  A  negro  who 
wears  European  clothing  at  once 
ranks  with  Europeans,  though  he  be 
as  black  as  coal.  There  are  grada- 
tions of  rank,  however  :  a  fellow  that 
wears  only  one  article  of  European 
costume,  the  vest,  for  instance,  or  the 
hat,  ranks  as  a  mulatto.  To  hold 
rank  as  an  out  and  out  European,  he 
must  wear  the  full  costume,  his  head 
being  crowned  with  the  hat."  t 
"Oftentimes  as  I  stood  in  the  pres- 
ence of  ebon  Majesty,  the  king  would 
be  possessed  by  the  god  of  poesy,  and 
my  interpreter  would  inform  me  that 
he  was  singing  my  praise  and  great 
renown.  This  was  extremely  gratify- 
ing and  of  course  flattered  my  vanity 
in  no  small  degree.  Unfortunately, 
however,  my  attention  was  on  one  oc- 
casion specially  directed  to  the  noble 
strains  wherein  the  Greots,  or  bards, 
committed  my  fame  to  posterity  ;  and 
it  was  suggested  that  the  least  I  might 
do  was  to  give  them  a  kronthaler :  so 
I  had  the  curiosity  to  request  of  my 
interpreter  a  more  minute  analysis  of 
the  pasan.  The  Greots  were  lauding 
in  transcendental  metaphors,  my  hat, 
which  just  then  was  not  according  to' 
the  latest  mode  de  Paris ;  and  in  its 
last  days  that  hat  cost  me  double  the: 
price  I  had  paid  for  it  new.  The^ 
Lord  of  Shemba-Shemba  I  suppose 
sung  the  praises  of  my  shoes,  as  shoes 
in  that  land  are  the  prerogative  of 
the  Blood  Royal.  Princes  alone  are 
there  permitted  to  wear  shoes,  to 
travel  in  mat  hammocks,  or  to  carry 
umbrellas."  %  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Pelew  Islands  used  to  append  to  their 
ears  all  the  valuables  they  cribbed 
from  Europeans,  scraps  of  leather, 
bits  of  paper,  etc. 

This  fact,  which  has  a  psychologi- 
cal basis  in  the  intellect  of  the  sav- 
age, must  be  taken  into  account  in  the 
study  of  fetichism  ;  and  this  for  two 
reasons,  viz.:    First,  it  will,  inconnec- 


*  Forster,  Bemerkungen,  S.  338. 

t  Halleur,  19. 

I  Bastian,  S.  Salv.  56. 


18 


1  II  l<    1 1  I>M. 


tion  with  other  facts,  enable  us  • 

irdedas 
a  fetich.  Then  it  will  guard  us  against 
the  cnor  of  thinking  that  every  object 
that  the  savage  prizes  is  foi  him  a 
fetich.  It  is  true,  any  object  may  be- 
,i  fetich  :  still,  every  object  is 
not  necessarily  a  fetich.  We  might 
here  retail  what  A/ara  says  about 
the  savages  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata: 
"When  the  ecclesiastics  saw  certain 
figures  engraved  or  pictured  on  the 
pipes,  bows,  clubs  and  pottery  of  the 
Indians,  they  at  once  concluded  ihese 
were  idols,  and  burnt  them  up.  The 
Indians  still  employ  the  same  figures, 
but  only  to  please  the  fancy,  for  they 
are  without  religion."* 

2.  The  Anthropopathic  Apprehension  of 

Objects. 

It  is  plain  that  in  the  view  of  the 
savage,  objects  will  have  a  very  dif- 
ferent value  from  what  they  have  for 
us.  But  furthermore,  owing  to  the 
contracted  range  of  the  savage's  mind 
and  his  consequent  deficiency  of  men- 
tal power,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing, 
his  defective  faculty  of  distinction, 
an  object,  whether  living  or  inani- 
mate, will  have  for  him  a  very  differ-; 
ent  meaning  from  what  it  has  for  us. 

The  savage  differs  but  little  from 
the  mere  animal,  nor  does  he  himself  \ 
draw  the  same  line  of  distinction  be-  j 
tween  the  two  which  we  draw.  Inas- 
much as  his  consciousness,  which  ex- ' 
tends  only  as  far  as  the  objects  which 
enter  it,  is  extremely  contracted,  he  is 
on  this  ground  also' less  distinguished 
than  we  from  the  unconscious  nature 
which  surrounds  him.  He  has  but  few 
objects,  and  so  distinguishes  but  few; 
and  thus  his  power  of  ascertaining  sub- 
stantial differences  between  things  lies 
all  unemployed,  uninstructed  and  fee- 
ble. Consequently,  he  does  not  see 
things  with  the  same  distinctness  as 
1  >,  and  hence  it  is  clear  that  in 
his  view  nature  must  appear  more 
homogeneous  than  it  does  to  us.     But 


•  Azara,  Voyage  dans  t'Amerique   Men- 

dionelle.  Paris,'  1S09,  T.  II.  p.   J. 


we    must  consider    this    point    more 
ely. 
\\'<  1  all  nature  as  one  and 

homogeneous,  and  view  all  beings  as 
essentially  homogeneous,  but  yet  on 
tenstic   grounds  very    different 
from  those  of  the  savage.     After  hav- 
ing traveled     in   many  devious  paths, 
and  so  far  even  exaggerated  the  dis- 
tinction between  Man  and  Nature.  as 
almost  to  dissolve  the  tie  which  binds 
them    together,   and   thus  established 
the  characteristic  differences  between 
the   two.   we   came   to   recognize   the 
truth  that  in  the  last  analysis  man  is 
not    essentially   distinct   from  nature, 
and    we    regard      nature     as    homo- 
geneous in  all  its  parts,  though    for 
ns   very  different   from   those   of 
the  savage.      The    difference    lies    in 
this,   that   we  consider  nature    in    its 
several   parts  :    that   we  arrive  at  the 
knowledge  of  its  homogeneity  through 
the  consideration    of    its  distinctions 
and  differences,  and  that  nature  lies  be- 
fore us  as  a  very  complex  object,  which 
has  been  investigated  in  many  of  its 
parts.      The  savage  knows  nothing  of 
these  distinctions  and  definitions  :  to 
him    nature    is    all  unknown  ;  yet  he 
too  regards  it  as  homogeneous,  but  on 
these  grounds  : 

He  is  unacquainted  with  the  pecu- 
liar nature  of  those  things  he  comes 
;  in  contact  with,  having  never  investi- 
gated them  :   he  knows  nothing  of  their 
inner  specific  properties  and  constitu- 
!  tion.       He   recognizes     a    distinction 
1  only  between   their   external  phenom- 
ena, as  regards  their  form,  color,  smell 
or  taste.     Then,  he  has  never  made 
his  own  being  a  subject  of  contempla- 
tion either   from   a  psychological    or 
from    a  physiological    point   of   view. 
He    is  therefore  ignorant  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  himself  and  other  be- 
ings.    Accordingly  his  apprehensions 
of  outward  objects  will  picture  them 
not   according   to    their   real   nature, 
which  he  has  never  investigated,  but 
in  quite   different   shapes.     It   is   im- 
possible for  him  to  attribute  to  objects 
properties    he  never  yet     has    appre- 
hended.    He   has    no  conception    of 
the  true,  specific  nature  of  things,  and 


FETICHISM. 


10 


consequently  his  apprehension  of 
them  is  defective.  Whatever  object 
he  perceives  he  invests  with  those 
properties  of  which  he  has  already  a 
notion,  and  then  for  him  the  two  things 
are  inseparable  and  identical.  This 
process  is  inevitable,  and  the  savage 
never  doubts  but  that  his  perception 
is  entirely  correct,  for  he  has  no  sus- 
picion of  having  transferred  to  the 
object  the  incongruous  impressions 
of  his  own  mind.  And  indeed  why 
should  he  doubt?  In  order  to  enter- 
tain a  doubt  whether  or  no  his  appre- 
hension corresponds  with  the  reality, 
the  thought  must  first  have  arisen  in 
his  mind  that  perhaps  the  object 
might  be  apprehended  differently  : 
but  this  presupposes  a  mind  furnished 
with  a  great  variety  of  conceptions, 
and  that  has  investigated  much,  so  as 
to  be  possessed  of  a  number  of  differ- 
ent actual  and  possible  notions.  Pre- 
cisely because  the  cultured  mind  pos- 
sesses such  an  abundance  of  varied 
notions,  any  one  of  which  may  appear 
to  represent  some  new  object  which 
attracts  its  attention,  it  will  not  ac- 
cept its  first  impression  as  absolutely 
correct  and  final,  but  will  be  skeptical 
for  a  time,  while  it  sifts  and  weighs, 
in  order  to  choose  among  many  concep- 
tions that  which  exactly  fits  the  mat- 
ter in  hand.  Now  the  savage  has  no 
such  store  of  conceptions.  He  pos- 
sesses but  few  himself,  nor  has  he  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  any  others.  As 
the  savage  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  has  no 
notion  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  etc., 
and  just  as  he  has  not  the  remotest 
idea  of  what  a  magnifying  glass  is,  so 
he  is  utterly  unable  to  conceive  of  any 
other  mode  of  apprehension  but  his 
own,  and  therefore  he  can  entertain 
no  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  his 
notions.  Having  no  suspicion  of  the 
existence  of  any  notions  beyond  those 
he  himself  possesses,  he  necessarily 
thinks  his  are  the  only  ones  possible. 
The  adversaries  of  Columbus  saw,  ac- 
cording to  the  ideas  they  entertained, 
that  his  undertaking  was  chimeri- 
cal :  they  regarded  their  own  notions 
as  the  only  correct  and  conceivable 
ones,  and  were  free  from  all   doubt. 


j  Who  could  have  imagined  the   possi- 
1  bility  of  traveling  by  land  without  the 
.  employment  of  draught  animals,  be- 
'  fore  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine. 
,  It   is   impossible   for   the    savage  to 
doubt  the  correctness  of  his  notions, 
as  there  are  no  others   by  means   of 
!  which  he  might  set  them  right.     Hav- 
ing no  suspicion  of  any  others  he  is 
obliged  to  see  all  things  in  the  light 
of  his  own   understanding  alone,  and 
to  transfer  to  everything  he  meets  the 
impressions   already   existing   in    his 
mind. 

Hence  it  is  plain  that  the  savage 
must  regard  all  objects,  as  far  as  con- 
cerns their  inner  nature,  as  being  en- 
dowed with  those  inner  properties 
only,  of  which  he  has  formed  to  him- 
self some  notion.  Now  what  are 
these  ?  Not  the  inner  properties  of 
the  objects  themselves,  for  of  these 
he  knows  nothing.  The  only  proper- 
ties of  this  kind  with  which  he  is  ac- 
quainted are  those  of  his  own  mind. 
But  how  far  does  his  knowledge  of 
his  own  mind  extend  ?  He  knows 
nothing  of  its  psychological  laws, 
nothing  of  its  essential  character,  so 
to  speak :  he  is  acquainted  only  with 
accidental  properties :  his  transient 
impressions  and  emotions,  his  momen- 
tary humors,  and  his  aimless  pursuits. 
These  notions  he  necessarily  transfers 
to  exterior  things,  as  their  inner  prop- 
erties ;  for  on  the  one  hand  he  has  no 
idea  of  the  real  inner  nature  of  the 
objects,  and  on  the  other  he  is  ac- 
quainted with  no  inner  properties 
whatever,  save  those  of  his  own  mind. 
He  must  necessarily  consider  all  na- 
ture, and  not  alone  animals  but  even 
inanimate  things,  as  living,  thinking 
and  willing,  even  as  he  himself  lives 
and  thinks  and  wills :  that  is  to  say, 
he  takes  an  anthropopathic  view  of  na- 
ture. We  shall  in  the  sequel  find 
abundant  proofs  of  this  position,  for 
it  is  a  fact  that  has  been  time  and 
again  recognized,  admitted  and  pro- 
claimed. We  have  attempted  only  to 
assign  its  psychological  grounds.  It 
is  the  utter  ignorance  of  the  savage 
that  directly  leads  him  to  view  nature 
in  this  light,  for  we  must  bear  in  mind 


L"0 


II    IK    lll>M. 


ih.u  for  .1  man  in  the  earliesl 
development,   \i/..   .1    savage,  every- 
thing, however  trifling,  is  .is  novel,  as 
unknown  and  as  wonderful  .is  .1  rattle 

is  for  tin-  infant.     As  the  man  gradu- 


to  one  man,  to  me  alone,  to  this  par- 
ti) ul. u    savage  1  reature,  with    all    its 
putty,  personal  propensities,  is  tl, 
ing  of  the  universe.     The  distim 
broad.     S<  hopenhauer   says  :  The 


ally  advances  toward  civilization,  this  Substance  ol  man  is  the  being  of  the 

mode  ol  viewing  nature  is  given  up,  Universe.      The  savage  saj 

yet  far  more  slowly  and  more  grudg-  dental  properties  (which  differ  for  dif- 

ingly  than  we  might  be  disposed  to  ex-  ferenl    individuals)  arc  the   being 

pect.     For  it  is  with  this  habit  as  with  the  Universe. 


every  system  of  ideas.  It  those  who 
went  before  have  adopted  it.  and  their 
whole  life  long  cherished  it.  and  held 
i;  for  true,  it  becomes  implanted  in 
tlnir  children  into  whom  it  was  incul- 
1  ated  during  their  earl}-  years,  and  in 


Thus  the  intellectual  status  of  the 
undeveloped  man.  the  savage,  necessi- 
tates .1  mode  ol  contemplating  nature 
very  different  from  ours.     J  p 

to  all  things  essentially  the  same  prop- 
erties he  possesses  himself :  he  cannot 


them  becomes  a  truth,  resting  on  the  avoid  considering  all  things  as  being 
authority  of  their  ancestors.  The  be- !  endowed  with  the  same  inner  proper- 
lief  -lows  stronger  day  by  day.  and  ties  he  discerns  in  himself,  for  he  has 
finally  becomes  indisputable  dogma  no  critical  power  of  discriminating. 
which  is  not  to  be  set  aside  even  For  him,  therefore,  every  object  lives, 
though  it  be  in  conflict  with  facts,  wills,  is  kindly  or  unfriendly  disposed ; 
Thus  the  anthropopathic  view  of  ob- !  and  thus  everything  inspires  him  with 
jects   endures   even  where    men's   ac-    fear  and  awe.  "so  that  lie  scarce  ven- 


quaintance  with  nature  is   no  longer 
in  the  lowest  grade. 

If  we   transfer    ourselves    into    the 
narrow  held  within   which  the  sa 
observes  nature  we  shall  find   this  re- 
sult so  inevitable,  that  any  other  result 


hires  to  touch  any  object  :  even  the 
very  plant  which  affords  him  nourish- 
ment he  plucks  from  the  ground  with 
propitiatory  rites."*  In  America  and 
in  Northern  Asia  all  things  are  sup- 
posed to  be  possessed  of  souis — works 


will  appear  to  be  impossible.  Though  of  nature  and  of  human  art  alike. 
I  have  said  that  we  ourselves,  no  less  These  souls  they  consider  as  some- 
than  the  savage,  must  regard  man  and  thing  dwelling  in  the  object  and  in- 
nature  as  homogeneous,  still  we  must  separable  from  it.  which  can  benefit 
admit  this  difference  between  our  1  or  harm  mankind."  t  The  more 
point  of  view  and  his:  by  investigat-  these  objects  resemble  man  in  their 
ing  nature  we  have  come  to  recognize  j  general  appearance  the  more  readily 
man  as  a  product  of  nature.  We  say,  will  they  be  regarded  as  actually  hu- 
man is  as  the  rest  of  the  universe,  man.  First,  therefore,  would  come  the 
But  the  savage  knows  neither  the  na- 1  anthropopathic  apprehension  of  ani- 
ture  of  other  things,  nor  yet  his  own  ;  nials.  then  of  all  the  phenomena  of 
as  regards  die  latter,  he  is  acquainted  motion — the  sea,  rivers,  clouds,  the 
merely  with  his  varying  impressions  wind,  lightning,  fire  (which  some  sav- 
and  desires.  Therefore  he  can  only  ages  regard  as  an  animal. t  as  did  the 
say:  Nature  is  like  Man.  /.<•..  has  the  ancient  Egyptians,  according  to  llei- 
same  petty,  individual  and  altogether  odotus);§  plants  would  follow  next, 
subjective  impressions  and  desires,  and  then  finally  rocks  and  mountains. 
When  Schopenhauer  says,  The  Uni-  This  subject  we  will  consider  in  detail 
verse  is  Will,  for  man  in  the  last  anal-  farther  on.  "  Natural  objects  pass 
ysis    is   Will,  and   at   the    same   time  for  mighty  spirits.     Thus,  for  instance, 

merely  a  part  of  the  Universe,  he  as- 1  

that    the   common   bein<r    of  all       *A.  Bastian,  I'.dtrage  zur  vergleichendeu 


men  is  also  the  being  of  the  Universe. 
<  >n  the  contrary,  the  savage  sa\s: 
The   individual   being  which   pertains 


Psychol.  S.  10. 

Meiners,  Hennepin,  Lafiteau,  Steller,  etc. 
}  YVuttkc-.  I.  59. 
§  Herod.  III.  16. 


FETICH  ISM. 


21 


among  the  Australians  the  rock-crys- 
tal is  esteemed  sacred ;  the  savage 
attributes  special  good  qualities  to 
stones  of  bright  colors.  The  blood- 
stone is  supposed  by  the  Indians  of 
South  America  to  be  possessed  of  be- 
neficent qualities.  Even  the  products 
of  human  skill,  such  as  watches,  tele- 
scopes and  the  like,  are  inhabited  by 
spirits.  An  intelligent  Bechuana  said, 
on  first  seeing  the  sea  and  a  ship, 
'  This  surely  is  no  created  thing,  it  has 
sprung  into  existence  of  itself,  and 
was  not  made  by  man.'  "  *  This  an- 
thropopathic  view  of  nature  is  the 
very  essence  of  poetry  :  and  hence  it 
is  that  the  view  which  the  savage 
takes  of  nature  appears  to  us  so  poet- 
ical, though  he  himself  is  so  accus- 
tomed to  this  mode  of  apprehension 
that  he  is  utterly  unconscious  of  the 
poetry. 

As  man  can  ascribe  to  objects  only 
those  notions  and  passions  which  he 
has  himself,  the  savage  attributes  to 
his  fetich  precisely  his  own  wild, 
unbridled  desires  in  all  their  natural 
unconstraint,  and  magnified  to  the 
highest  degree ;  his  hunger  and 
thirst,  his  love  and  hate,  his  anger 
and  his  rage.  Still  the  object  con- 
tinues to  be,  in  the  mind  of  the 
savage,  that  which  it  is  in  its  external 
form.  It  is  not  as  if  the  savage  in 
his  anthropopathic  apprehension  rep- 
resented to  himself  a  self-existent 
superior  Power,  a  self-existent  soul, 
which  merely  assumed  for  a  time  the 
external  shape  of  the  fetich.  No : 
the  stone  remains  a  stone  ,  the  river 
a  river.  The  water  itself,  in  its 
proper  form  and  with  its  native  prop- 
erties is  invested  with  anthropopathic 
characteristics.  This  is  very  differ- 
ent from  a  symbolic  conception. 
Here  the  object  as  it  presents  itself 
in  all  its  external  manifestations,  is 
identical  with  the  anthropopathic  con- 
ception. When  a  thing  comes  to  be 
regarded  as  in  some  way  the  svmbol 
of  another  and  a  different  thing,  then 
the  mind  has  made  a  very  consider- 
able step  in  advance. 

*  Wait/.  I.  457. 


The  object  has  therefore  a  greater 
value  for  the  savage  than  for  us,  both 
as   a   commodity   and    as   something 
anthropopathically  regarded    as   pos- 
sessing life.     "  One  of  the  followers 
of  the  envoy  Isbrand  exhibited  before 
a   crowd   of   Ostiaks  who  wanted  to 
sell  fish  to  the  embassy,  a  Niirnberg 
watch,  fashioned    in   the   shape  of  a 
bear.     The    Ostiaks  viewed  the  arti- 
cle with  great  interest.     But  their  joy 
and     astonishment    were     increased 
when  the  watch  began  to  go,  and  the 
bear  began  to  strike  the  hours,  and 
his  head  and  eyes  to  be  in  motion. 
The  Ostiaks  bestowed  on  the  watch 
the    same    honor   they  paid  to    their 
j  principal    Saitan,    and   even    gave    it 
precedence  over  all  their  gods.    Thev 
wanted   to  purchase  it.     '  If  we  had 
I  such  a  Saitan,'  said  they,   •  we  would 
j  clothe    him    with    ermine    and    black 
j  sable.'  "  *    "  Father  Hennepin,  during 
his  stay  among  the    savages,  had  in 
j  his  possession  a  compass  and  a  large 
!  kettle  in  the  form  of  a  lion.     When- 
1  ever  he  made  the  needle  vibrate,  the 
chief  with  whom   he  lodged   assured 
I  all  that  were  present  that  the  white 
j  men  are  spirits  and  capable  of  doing 
extraordinary   things.      The    savages 
;  had  such  fear  of  the  kettle  that  they 
never  would  touch  it,  without  having 
first  wrapped    it   up  in  beaver  pelts. 
If   women   happened   to   be  present, 
the   kettle    had    to  be   made  fast   to 
a  tree.     Hennepin  offered  the  kettle 
to   several  chiefs  as   a  present ;  but 
none  of  them  would  accept  the  gift, 
for  it  was  thought  that  an  evil  spirit 
dwelt  within  it,  who  would  slay  the 
new  owner."  f 

The  same  anthropopathic  appre- 
hension of  things  is  to  be  observed  in 
children.  The  little  girl  who  in  per- 
fect seriousness  regards  her  doll  as  a 
playmate,  who  strips  and  clothes  it, 
feeds  and  chastises  it,  puts  it  to  bed 
and  hushes  it  to  sleep,  calls  it  by  a 
personal  name,  etc.,  never  imagines 
that   all  her  care    is  expended  on  a 


*  Isbrand.  Voyage  de  Moscou  a  la  Chine, 
in  Vol.  VIII.  of  Voyages  an  Nord,  p.  38. 

t  Hennepin,  in  the  Voyages  au  Nord,  IX. 
$32,  533.  Cf-  Constant,  I. a  Religion,  I.  p.  254 


II    I  l<    lll.s\l. 


lifeless  thing,  she  does  not  make  any 
sin  I)  reflei  tions  as  these  :  rhis  is  .ill 
merely  an  illusion  thai  1  indulge  on 
purpose;  .1  plaj  thai  I  engage  in,  bul 
with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
it  is  only  play.  She  has  no  thoughl 
that  the  doll  is  .1  lifeless  thing;  foi 
hei  ii  is  possessed  ot  a  human  life, 
which  is  bestowed  upon  it  l>v  the 
child  herself.  The  boy's  hobby-horse 
r  him  no  mere  symbol.  This 
anthropopathic  view  of  lifeless  ob- 
is to  be  seen  among  people 
everywhere.  Especially  do  we  ob- 
serve it  in  the  way  people  vent  their 
n  blows  and  abuse  bestowed  on 
inanimate  things  that  have  occa- 
sioned them  some  hurt.  In  the  heat 
of  passion,  reflection  and  judgment 
are  silenced,  and  then  momentarily 
the  mental  range  is  contracted  as  it 
is  in  the  savage  permanently.  An 
Indian  who  in  his  cups  had  received 
a  burn  expressed  his  indignation 
against  the  fire  in  the  most  abusive 
language,  and  then  mingens  cum  ex- 
tinxit* 

3.    The  Causal  Connection  of  Objects. 

We  now  proceed  to  study  the  oper- 
ations of  the  mind  in  its  profoundest 
depths.  The  act  of  consciousness' 
implies  the  perception  of  the  princi- 
ple of  causality.  Wv.pcrcchc  objects 
by  referring  to  outward  phenomena, 
as  to  a  cause,  certain  modifications 
produced  in  our  nerves  of  sense,  and 
we  connect  objects  themselves  with 
one  another  by  the  same  causal 
nexus.  In  the  latter  process  the 
mind  arranges  the  objects  in  a  certain 
orderly  series.  SO  that  one  shall  ap- 
as  accounting  for  another,  or 
explaining  it.  Thus  one  object  would 
be  1  ause,  and  another,  effect.  The  i 
mind  invariably  perceives  this  rela- 
tion in  all  the  objects  which  come  un- 
der its  cognizance;  and  even  in  the 
mosl  trivial  conversation  the  several 
conceptions  are  explanatory,  illustra- 
tive, 1  onfirmatory  of  one  another,  and 

•  Vl.iii,  Hist  A mer.  Indians.     Lond.  1775, 
p.  117. 


so   inter-related   causally.      It  is  a  law 

of  the  mind  therefore  that  it  shall  re- 
gard its  objects  as  standing  to  one 

another  in  the    relation   ol    <  ause    and 

Now  it  is  clear  that  the  mind  can 
discern  this  relation  only  between 
tlios,-    objects    Of    which     it     has 

sciousness.     But  the  more   restricted 

its  range,  the    fewer  will    be    its    ob- 

A    mind    which    possesses    but 

lew  objects  will   be   liable,   owing  to 

this  very  paucity  of  objects,  to  as- 
sume immediate  1  ausal  relations 
where  they  do  nol  exist  :  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  true  cause,  it  will  take 
for  cause  some  object  within  its  own 
range.  This  is  the  real  ground  of 
all  error,  and  any  erroneous  appre- 
hension whatsoever  might  serve  as  an 
example  of  what  we  lure  assert.  In 
the  course  of  this  chapter  we  shall 
fall  in  with  many  examples,  but  we 
cite  only  the  following  in  this  place  : 
The  true  cause  of  the  so-called  rain 
of  blood  in  Southwestern  Europe 
was  long  unknown.  People  accord- 
ingly connected  this  unknown  and 
unexplained  phenomenon  with  a  con- 
ception which  they  already  had. 
and  said.  "  It  rains  blood."  and  so 
believed,  until  it  was  discovered  that 
the  color  of  the  rain  was  owing  to  the 
'presence  in  it  of  particles  of  sand 
from  the  Sahara.*  "  When  the  keel  of 
Portuguese  ships  first  furrowed  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic,  the  savages 
viewed  with  consternation  the  white- 
winged  ships  driven  along  their  coasts 
by  a  power  to  them  incomprehensi- 
ble." They  had  never  seen  a  ship. 
What  could  this  apparition  be  which 
was  borne  along  as  it  were  on  wings? 
(  me  only  conception  had  they  winch 
could  aid  them  in  accounting  for  the 
motion,  and  they  said,  "They  are 
cloud-birds  come  down  on  earth."  + 
It  is  just  because  the  mind  can  assign 
only  those  objects  as  causes,  which 
it  already  possesses,  that  you  hear 
nun  uttering  so  much  nonsense  when 
they    discourse    about    things    quite 


'  M.  Perty,  Die  Natur,  p.  2X3. 
■    Bastian,  S.  Salvador,  S.  269. 


FETICIIISM. 


23 


without  their  sphere,  but  which  they 
try  to  explain  by  conceptions  belong- 
ing within  it.  In  short,  this  is  the 
origin  of  all  that  science  which  would  I 
account  for  phenomena  by  an  a  priori 
theory,  as  when  the  motions  of  the 
planets  were  explained  on  the  theories 
of  Ptolemy  or  of  Tycho  Brahe.  The 
common  people  from  their  stand-point 
could  account  for  the  occurrence  of 
erratic  blocks  only  on  the  theory  that 
they  were  fragments  of  giants'  clubs 
broken  in  battle,  or  that  they  were 
dropped  by  giantesses  out  of  their 
aprons. t  The  explanations  given  by 
Playfair  and  Venetz  lie  quite  beyond 
the  popular  apprehension. 

So  much  therefore  is  clear,  that  the 
undeveloped  understanding  will  of 
necessity  connect  in  causal  relation 
a  number  of  objects  which  do  not  in 
reality  stand  to  each  other  in  the  re- 
lation of  cause  and  effect,  reason  and 
consequence.  The  question  for  such 
a  mind  is,  to  which  of  the  objects  of 
its  consciousness  it  shall  specially 
attribute  causality. 

The  cause,  as  being  the  producer, 
will  naturally  be  regarded  as  strong, 
powerful,  effective,  and  so  gifted  with 
peculiar  attributes .  for  only  that 
which  is  possessed  of  power  can  pro- 
duce. Whatever  therefore  we  regard 
as  preeminent  in  its  kind  ,  whatever 
appears  to  us  as  specially  notable, 
peculiar  or  important,  we  rate  as  the 
cause  of  other  phenomena  which  we 
regard  as  its  effects,  if  only  the  cir- 
cumstances of  time  and  space  permit 
such  a  view.  This  perception  of 
causality  the  mind  must  get  from  ob- 
jects within  its  own  range.  Xow.  as 
we  have  already  seen,  the  narrower 
the  mind's  range,  the  higher  will  be  its 
estimate  of  objects.  Therefore,  the 
more  restricted  the  field  of  conscious- 
ness, the  more  inconsiderable  will 
the  objects  be  which  pass  for  causes 
— inconsiderable  in  our  view,  though 
of  high  moment  in  that  of  the  savage. 
If  we  now  recall  to  our  minds  what 
has  been    already  observed  with    re- 


gard  to  the  savage's  anthropopathic 
apprehension  of  objects,  the  following 
example  will   be    readily  understood, 
while  at  the  same   time   it  will    serve 
to  illustrate   the   preceding    remarks. 
An  iron  anchor  must  be  regarded  by 
the  savage  as  a  very  strange  and  pe- 
culiar   object,    for    he    could    neve\ 
mold    such  an   instrument,  nor   does 
he  see  the  like  every  day.     "  A  Kaffir 
broke  a  piece    off   the    anchor   of   a 
stranded  vessel,  and  soon   after  died. 
Ever  after  the  Kaffirs    regarded   the 
anchor  as  something   divine,  and   did 
it  honor  by  saluting  it  as  they  passed 
by,    with    a    view    to    propitiate    its 
wrath."  *     An  anchor  is,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  savage,  something  so  remarkable 
and  so  strange,  and  he  is  so  utterly 
ignorant    of   the    use   it   serves,  that 
there  was  a  concourse  from  all  sides 
to  see  it,  and  all  were  filled  with  ad- 
miration.    Their  interest  was  as  great 
as   that  of  an    astronomer   when   he 
discovers    a  new  planet.     That   any 
man  should   have  the  hardihood  to 
break  off  a  piece  of  this  singular  ob- 
ject was  no  less  matter  of  astonish- 
ment for  the  Kaffirs  than  the   anchor 
itself.     Well,  the  man  died  suddenly. 
What  caused  his  death  ?     They  could 
find  no  natural  cause  :  but  there  was 
the  anchor,  and  this  man  had  broken 
off  a  piece    of  it.     Here    were    facts 
which  spoke  for  themselves.     So  the 
anchor,  the  injury  done  to  it,  and  the 
death  of  the  Kaffir  were  without  more 
■  ado  ranged  in  the  order  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  the  anchor  was   advanced 
in  the  estimation  of  the  savages.     The 
anchor  had  been  injured  and  outraged 
and  would  have  its  revenge  :  here  we 
have  a   specimen    of   anthropopathic 
apprehension  of  an   inanimate   thing. 
It  slew  the  impious  wretch  :  here  we 
have  an  object  that  appears  to  be  of 
some  importance  viewed  as  the  cause 
of  something   else,  viz.  :  the  death  of 
the    transgressor.       Henceforth    that 
anchor  is  a  dread  and  mighty  Thing ; 
so  they  greet  it  as  they  pass,  to  keep 
it  in  a  good  humor. 


*  Grimm,    Deutsche  Mvthologie,  I.    AufL 
S.  306-7. 


*  Alberti,  die  Kaffern,  S. 
Reise,  I.  412. 


Lichtenstein, 


24 


FETH   lll-M. 


/ 


We  find  in  this  example  tour  fat 
l  rst,  thi  i  onsideration  of  this 
strange  objet  t  .is  something  altogethei 
peculiar,  singular  and  important,  sim- 
ply because  it  is  strange.  Second,  the 
anthropopathic  apprehension  of  this 
object  .is  something  that  lives,  feels 
and  wills.*  Third,  the  establishment 
of  the  relation  oi  cause  and  <t- 
fect  between  this  object  and  other 
things.  Fourth,  the  apprehension  of 
ii  as  something  mighty,  which  is 
therefore  to  be  treated  with  reverent  e, 
to  the  end  it  may  be  friendly;  or,  in 
other  words,  as  something  which,  in 
virtue  of  the  inner  nature  attributed 
to  i;,  lire  nines  an  object  of  venera- 
tion. We  are  now  in  a  position  to 
understand  what  is  meant  by  a  fetich. 
When  an  object  is  viewed  in  the  four- 
fold manner  above  set  forth,  it  is  then 
a  fetich,  and  fetiches  are  therefore 
objects  in  which  these  four  factors 
are  united. f  The  objects  here  are 
all  sensible  objects. 

We  have  now  empirically  demon- 
strated that  these  are  the  necessary 
consequences  of  the  savage's  intellect- 
ual status,  viz.  :  an  over-estimate  of  in- 
<  onsiderable  objects,  an  anthropopath- 
ic apprehension  of  objects,  an  errone- 
ous perception  of  causal  relations,  and 
the  veneration  of  objects  supposed  to 
uses.  So  the  fetichistic  mode  of 
apprehending  things  flows  quite  nat- 
urally and  inevitably  from  natural  and 


•Bastian,  S.  Salvador,  S.  2.27. 
1  The  first  writer  to  employ  the  word  fetich 
was   De   Brasses  in  his  work  "  Du  cull 
dieux  Fetii  hes,"  which  appeared  in  1  -noanon- 
5 mi msly,  and  without  the  name  oi  thi 
of  publication.     As  to  the  origin  of  the  won! 
■  .  .  .  i  ei  tain  deities,  vt  hoin   Euro- 
call   Fetiches,  a  word  formed  by  our 
traders    in   Senegal,  out    of  the   Porti 

'.  divine,  oracular. 
Jt  is  from  the  Latin  root  fatum,  fanum,  fari." 
Winterbottom,  in  his  "  Account  of  the  Na- 
tive Africans  in  the  Neighbor!) 1  of  Siena 

."derives  the  word  from  the  Port.  Fati- 
.   witi  h,  01    Fatii  aria,  wit.  hi  raft.     The 
rowed  not  only  this  lmt  also  an- 
word,  gree-gree,  from  the  Portu 
ilv.  S  95)  ■ 
name  in  V-  foi  a  fetii  h 

•qui/.i.      Another  name    is    Mokisso,  or   Juju 
{/bid.  254,  8l);  also  Won-  (Waitz,  II 
among  several  Amer.  uihes,  Manitu. 


empiric  grounds.     Granted  only  a 

1  and  undeveloped  intelligence, 

and  yOU  have  fetil  hism  as  the  inevita- 
ble  result.      The  mental   status  of  the 

savage  finds  its  natural  expression  in 
fetit  hism  :  fetichism  is  its  System  ol 
the  l  diverse,  its  philosophy,  its  relig- 
ion :  and  hem  e  le'.iehism.  as  being 
sut  h  Sj  stem,  Philosophy  and  Religion, 
funis  us  explanation  when  we  have 
gained  anything  like  correct  notions 
of  the  savage  intelli 

We  will  (  ite  .1  few  more  examples 
to  show  how  fetichism  is  made  up  of 
our  four  factors.  "A  negro  of  some 
distinction,  an  acquaintance  of  Ro- 
uter's, was  about  to  take  refuge  in  a 
Danish  fort,  with  his  family  and  his 
valuables,  to  escape  from  the  attack 
of  a  merciless  enemy.  <  )n  quitting 
his  hut  in  the  morning  he  stumbled  on 
a  stone  with  such  violence  that  he 
suffered  considerable  pain.  This  ac- 
cident caused  him  to  regard  the  stone 
as  a  fetich.  He  at  once  picked  it  up, 
and  newer  more  parted  with  it.  as 
through  it  he  succeeded  in  escaping 
from  the  dangers  which  had  threat- 
ened him."  *  "An  American  savage 
chose  the  crucifix  and  a  little  image 
of  the  Virgin  that  had  come  into  his 
possession,  for  his  Manitus.  He 
never  parted  with  them,  after  he  had 
found,  as  he  believed,  that  they  pro- 
tected him  sundry  times  against  the 
arrows  of  his  enemy."  t  "As  the 
Yakuts  first  saw  a  camel  during  an 
outbreak  of  the  small-pox  they  pro- 
nounced that  animal  to  be  a  hostile 
deity  who  had  brought  the  disease 
among  them.} 

The  taboo  of  the  South  Sea  Island- 
ers is  by  many  writers  supposed  to  re- 
semble the  fetich,  and  even  to  be  iden- 
tical with  it.  Still  the  two  things  do 
not  appear  to  be  identical,  if  we  ac- 
cept the  account  which  Gerland  gives 
of  the  taboo.  (Waitz's  Anthropologic, 
Band.  5.)     Wait/   gives  an    excellent 

*  L.    F.     Romer's    Nachrichten    von    der 

Kiiste  Guinea.    Kopcnhagen,  1769,  S.  63,  64. 

t  Charlevoix,      Journal      historique     d'un 

1'Am^nque  septentrionale.     Paris 

vs  7  ■ 
J  Wuttke,  Gesch.  d.  II.  I.  72. 


FETICH  ISM. 


25 


definition  of  the  fetich  :  A  fetich,  says  ' 
he,  is  an  object  of  religious  venera- 
tion, wherein  the  material  thing  and 
the  spirit  within  it  are  regarded  as, 
one,  the  two  being  inseparable.  As 
we  have  already  said,  the  fetich  is  any 
object  whatsoever,  viewed  anthropo- 
pathically,  or  regarded  as  endowed 
with  human  characteristics.  Taboo, 
on  the  other  hand,  according  to  Ger- 
land,  is  an  object  which  receives  re- 
ligious veneration  because  it  is  the 
temporary  abode  of  a  spirit  or  of  a 
Deity.  "We  know,"  says  he,  "the 
meaning  of  the  taboo,  the  religious  | 
ban  of  Polynesia,  and  the  question  j 
arises  whether  the  same  custom  pre- 
vails also  in  Micronesia?  It  does; 
but  though  in  the  latter  islands  the 
belief  in  taboo  is  as  universal  as  in. 
Polynesia,  still  the  taboo  has  not 
there  so  extensive  a  range  of  objects. 
(Gulick,  Micronesia,  in  the  Nautical 
Magazim,  1862,  41 7. )  "  The  taboo  at- 
taches to  meat  and  drink  ;  and  the  nota- 
bles of  the  Ladrones  will  not  eat  eels  : 
the  isolated  inhabitants  of  Ponapi, 
the  Marshall  and  the  Gilbert  Islands, 
etc.,  will  not  eat  the  flesh  of  this  or 
that  animal  ;  the  common  people  on 
those  islands  must  not  eat  the  kava, 
and  on  the  island  of  Kusaie  they  must 
abstain  from  the  cocoanut,  etc. ;  sev- 
eral trees  also  are  taboo,  i.e.  forbidden 
( Mertens,  Recueil  des  Actes  de  la 
Seance,  publ.  de  TAcad.  imp.  Scien- 
tifique  de  St.  Petersburg,  29  dec. 
1829,  177);  the  rain-conjurers  must 
not  eat  the  blooms  of  the  pandanus. 
Also  places,  temples  and  persons,  v.g. 
great  princes,  are  taboo  for  the  com- 
monalty. Whoever  would  go  a  fish- 
ing must  be  continent  for  the  space 
of  twenty-four  hours.  In  conversing 
with  women  certain  words  were  taboo  : 
and  hus  we  might  go  on  rehearsing 
an  interminable  list  of  such  prohibi- 
tions. The  word  taboo  also  is  used 
in  Micronesia  (Kotzebue,  Entdeck- 
ungsreise,  II.  59;  Hale,  Ethnographie, 
in  his  Tarawa  vocabulary,  s.  v.  Tabu  ; 
Pickering,  Memoir,  s.  v.  Tabu,  etc.), 
and  in  the  isle  of  Morileu  the  word  pen- 
nant is  employed  in  the  same  sense. 
Thus  a  tree,  or  a  locality,  etc.,  would  be 


pen nant  (Mertens,  134).  Nor  were  the 
ceremonies  employed  in  Micronesia 
to  lift  the  taboo  less  imposing  than 
those  in  use  in  Polynesia.  Thus 
Cheyne  describes  a  very  protracted 
festival  which  he  saw  observed  on  the 
isle  of  Eap,  the  chief  ceremony  con- 
sisting of  prayers  addressed  by  the 
priests  to  the  Sea-god,  to  induce  him 
to  quit  a  vessel  that  was  taboo,  and 
return  to  his  native  element. 
(Cheyne,  "  A  Description  of  Islands," 
etc.,  157  seq.)  From  this  narrative  we 
learn  what  is  the  meaning  of  Taboo. 
The  god  enters  a  thing  and  thus  with- 
draws it  from  common  use.  The 
chieftains  being  of  divine  origin,  their 
person  and  property  are  taboo  to  the 
commonalty,  as  is  also  whatever  they 
are  pleased  to  declare  taboo.*  This 
view  of  the  taboo  is  very  probably 
the  correct  one  ;  yet  we  must  not  sup- 
pose that  in  Polynesia  and  in  Micro- 
nesia the  taboo  is  not  also  regarded 
in  another  light,  and  apprehended  as 
a  fetich.  On  the  isle  of  Nukunono 
Fakaafo  worship  used  to  be  paid  to 
the  Tui  Tokelau,  or  Lord  of  Tokelau  ; 
and  this  was  a  stone  wrapped  up  in 
matting  and  held  so  sacred  that  only 
the  king  durst  view  it,  and  even  he 
only  once  a  year,  when  it  assumed  a 
fresh  suit  of  matting.  (Turner,  "  Nine- 
teen years  in  Polynesia,"  527.)  This 
stone  idol,  which  was  ten  feet  in 
height,  stood  in  front  of  the  temple, 
and  was,  at  the  time  when  Hale  saw 
it,  ten  feet  in  circumference,  owing  to 
its  thick  wrappages  of  matting.  (Hale, 
158;  Turner,  527).  It  was  the  Tui 
Tokelau  that  caused  disease,  so  who- 
ever was  attacked  would  have  a  new 
mat  wrapped  about  the  god,  to  propi- 
tiate his  wrath  by  means  of  this 
rather  costly  offering.t  As  this  stone 
was  considered  so  sacred,  it  was  nat- 
ural for  the  people  to  identify  it  with 
the  deity.  Whatever  offerings  they 
made  to  the  stone,  were  made  to  the 
god  :  whatever  petitions  they  had  to 
address  to  the  god,  were  addressed 
to  the  stone.     Which  is  here  the  god, 

*  Waitz,  Anthrop.  13d.  V.  Abtheil.  2  ;  Ger- 
land.  S.  147. 

t  Waitz,  Anthrop.  V.  Abth.  2,  S.  195. 


I  I    I  I'    III-M. 


tin-  stone  "i   tli*-  deity  ?    The  better 

,.t  tin-  islanders,  those  best  in- 
ted  by  the  priests  a--  i"  their  re- 
ligious belief,  would  perhaps  n 
the  stone  .1-  only  the  habitation  ol  the 
,n,l  consider  the  latter  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  stone.  But  would  the 
more  ignorant  son  make  such  .1  dis- 
tinction? If  not,  the  taboo  was  for 
them  a  fetich. 

Here  we    have  an    observation  to 
make.     The    so-called     Religion    ol 
Nature,  i.e.,  the  religion  of  the  savage, 
two    aspects,    which     must    be 
sharply  defined  and  kept  separate  if 
we  would  have  clear  conceptions  on 
the  subject.     Under  one  aspect  sensi- 
ble objects  are  worshiped  ;  under  the 
other,  worship  is  paid  to  spirits.      It 
is  not   asserted  that   either  of   these 
branches  of    Natural    Religion   arose 
prior  to  the  other:  they  are   both  per- 
fectlynatural  phenomena,  springing  in- 
evitably out  of  an  undeveloped   state 
of  intellect.     The  worship  of  sensible 
objects   is   founded    on    the    relation 
subsisting  betwen  the   mind  and  such 
objects :     the   worship    of     spirits    is 
founded  on    the  relation    between  the 
mind    and  the  souls  of  the  departed. 
These  two  systems  run  parallel  to  one 
another,    and    here    and    there    unite 
their  currents  to  form  a  single  stream. 
This    subject  I  propose  to    consider 
in     another    place.     At    present   we 
have  to  do  only  with  the  worship  of 
sensible  objects,   *>.,  with    fetichism, 
and  we  purposely  omit  the  considera- 
tion of    the  other  branch  of  Natural 
Religion.     We  do  not  assert  that  the 
only  religion    of   the    Negro,    for    in- 
stance,   is   fetich-worship,  though  we 
Study  the  Negro  here  only  in  so  far 
as     he     is   a    fetichist.       Just     as    in 
the  higher  grades   of   intelligence  one 
individual    will    surpass    another    in 
mental  development,  so  too  will  one 
savage    excel    another,    and    attain   a 
higher  grade  of  religious  development. 
however  contemptible  his  very  high 
est  grade  may  appear  to  be  in  our  es- 
timation.    Thus   the   savage    has   al- 
ready made  one   step  in   advance,   as 
soon   as  he   perceives   that  the    object 
of   his  worship    is   not   a   being    pos- 


sessed  of  anthropopathic  properties. 
that  it  cannot  of  itsell   perform  those 

acts  wliii  h  lie  formerly  attributed  to  it. 

oi  when  he  recognizes  as  inhabiting  \ht 
object,  a  spiiit  separate  from  the 
il  thing.  Fetichism  be<  omes 
thus  elevated  by  means  oi  the  belief 
in  spirits,  and  the  fetich  is  advanced 

to    the   higher    grade   of   the   tal 

As  the  South  Sea  [slanders  are  raised 
above  the  very  lowest  stage  ol  intel- 
ligence,   the    taboo   is    better   adapt- 
ed  to  them   than  the  fetich.     For  the 
same   reason,    intelligent    Negroes   re- 
gard  their  fetich    as   taboo.      Halleur 
gives  the  following  as  a  specimen  of 
Negro     intelligence  :    "  I    wished     to 
make  a  Negro  understand  the  folly  of 
offering  to  the  fetich — a  tree,  for  in- 
stance— footl,      drink,     lemons.      and 
palm-oil,    as  he    himself    must    know- 
that    the  tree  made  no  use  of  them. 
1 '  Oh,'  said  the  Negro,  'it  is  not  the 
I  tree  that    is  the  fetich.     The  fetich   is 
l  a    spirit,   and    invisible,  who    lives    in 
I  the    tree.     To   be  sure,    he  does    not 
!  consume   the   material   food,  but    he 
enjoys    its  spiritual    portion,   and  re- 
jects the  material,  which  we  see.'  '*  * 
Here  is  the  fetichist  become  a  taboo- 
ist,  supposing  that  the  description  of 
tabooism  heretofore  given  is  correct. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FETICHISM  AS  A  RELIGION. 

i.    The  Belief  in  Fetiches. 

Accidental  coincidence  determines 
whether  or  no  an  object  shall  be  re- 
garded as  a  fetich,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  foregoing  examples.  The  savage, 
however,  cannot  entertain  a  doubt  as 
to  the  power  of  his  fetich,  for  he  has 
had  evidence  of  this,  and  with  his  own 
eves  has  seen  how  such  and  such  an 
object  brought  about  such  and  such 
an  event  :  how  the  anchor  slew  the 
man,  how  the  camel  brought  the  small- 
pox.     It    is   only  after   he  has  found 

*  Halleur,  S.  39. 


FETICHISM. 


27 


his  fetich  powerless  in  a  considerable 
number  of  instances  that  he  is  unde- 
ceived. But  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing 
for  him,  owing  to  the  obtuseness  of 
his  intellect,  to  suspect  that  the  true 
cause  may  lie  outside  of  his  fetich. 
Even  if  his  faith  is  shaken,  it  is  im- 
paired only  so  far  as  regards  one 
special  fetich,  while  it  remains  firm  as 
to  all  others.  He  bases  his  judgment 
on  the  most  superficial  grounds. 
Thus,  a  plague  broke  out  in  Mo- 
lembo  soon  after  the  death  of  a  Por- 
tuguese ;  the  two  things  were  arranged 
in  the  order  of  cause  and  effect,  and 
as  long  as  the  memory  of  the  plague 
lasted  the  people  of  Molembo  were 
very  careful  that  no  European  should 
die  within  the  limits  of  their  country.* 
When  cases  occur,  wherein  the  sav- 
age, according  to  his  way  of  judging, 
directly  sees  the  action  of  his  fetich, 
his  belief  is  confirmed.  "  In  a  clear- 
ing in  the  woods,"  writes  Bastian,  "  I 
observed  on  the  side  of  the  road  a  fe- 
tich-house, and  wished  to  examine  it 
more  closely,  but  my  black  carriers 
could  not  be  induced  to  carry  me  to 
the  spot.  As  I  alighted,  to  go  on 
foot,  they  almost  resorted  to  violence 
to  withhold  me  from  executing  my  pur- 
pose, and  I  read  in  their  eyes,  when  I 
came  back  to  them,  that  they  regarded 
me  as  certain  to  die  very  soon.  .  .  . 
Weary,  I  reached  Quimolenzo  toward 
night,  when  suddenly  my  sight  failed 
me,  and  I  felt  myself  sinking  power- 
less to  the  ground.  A  violent  fever 
raged  in  all  my  veins,  and  this  contin- 
ued through  the  entire  night.  The 
following  day  it  was  the  same,  and  I 
was  so  weak  I  could  not  rise  from  the 
bed.  My  people  exchanged  knowing 
looks,  as  much  as  to  say  :  The  spell  of 
the  fetich  is  working  ;  and  they  were 
quite  sure  they  would  have  to  bury 
me  before  night."  t  "  In  front  of  the 
American's  house  (in  Shemba-Shem- 
ba,  West  Africa)  there  was  a  crowd  of 
people  assembled,  in  the  midst  of 
whom  a  fetich-priest  was  running  up 
and    down    with    loud   cries,    jerking 


*  Bastian,  S.  Salv. 
t  Ibid.  S.  50,  53. 


S.  104. 


hither  and  thither  a  wooden  puppet 
decked  with  tatters  of  every  color, 
and  beating  it  with  a  switch  on  the 
face  and  shoulders.  I  learned  that  a 
knife  had  been  stolen  from  one  of  the 
Negroes,  and  he  had  applied  for  its  re- 
covery to  this  priest,  who  was  the  own- 
er of  a  fetich  in  high  repute  as  a  detec- 
tive of  thieves.  The  unfortunate  god 
appeared  to  me  to  have  paid  dearly 
for  his  reputation,  seeing  that  he  got  a 
merciless  whipping  to  begin  with,  to 
teach  him  the  necessity  of  attending 
seriously  to  his  business.  The  priest 
having  wrought  himself  up  to  a  high 
state  of  prophetic  clairvoyance,  an- 
nounced to  the  spectators,  in  a  tone  of 
perfect  assurance,  that  the  next  morn- 
ing they  would  find  the  knife  along- 
side the  fetich,  which  he  posted  in  front 
of  the  factory.  In  the  morning  there 
lay  the  knife,  for  the  merchant,  dis- 
liking a  continuance  of  these  ceremo- 
nies for  an  entire  week,  chose  rather 
to  confirm  the  infallibility  of  the  fe- 
tich, than  to  expose  his  property  to  the 
risk  of  being  plundered,  if  the  people 
continued  to  flock  around  his  estab- 
lishment." * 

The  savage  has  never  a  doubt  as  to 
the  efficiency  of  his  fetich,  and  his 
faith  is  all  the  stronger  because  ever 
since  he  was  a  child  he  has  seen  every 
one  entertaining  the  same  belief,  and 
so  his  mental  fiber  is,  so  to  speak,  sat- 
urated with  it.  Every  one  knows  the 
force  of  early  impressions  ;  how  the 
great  mass  of  mankind  never  emanci- 
pate themselves  from  their  influence, 
and  how  it  is  only  after  many  a  pain- 
ful inward  conflict  that  a  man  escapes 
from  their  dominion.  But  this  abso- 
lute faith  of  the  savage  in  the  power 
of  his  fetich,  disposes  him  to  view  it 
with  dread ;  this  dread  in  turn  serves 
to  exaggerate  the  apparent  efficiency 
of  the  fetich  and  so  to  confirm  more 
and  more  the  man's  belief  in  its 
power.  "  When  a  Negro  has  anything 
stolen  from  him  he  entreats  some 
great  fetich  to  discover  the  thief. 
The  pomp  of  ceremony  attending  the 
consultation  of   the  fetich  oftentimes 


*  Bastian,  S.  61. 


SH 


II    IK    1 1 1  >  M . 


lis  the  thief  with  consternation 
that  he  surrenders  the  property."  * 
The  thief  being  also  convinced  thai 
the  fetich  has  power  t<>  hurt  him,  gives 

.  what  he  has  st<  >len,  or  confi 
the  theft     "The  rich  frequently  em- 

a  K. issa  potion  to  make  their  do- 
mesl  ss   their    thefts."  |     I  n 

Bassam  they  merely  lay  a  feti<  h- 
upon  the  body  of  the  accused. 
If  he  is  guilty,  he  is  sure  to  confess; 
his  fears  will  extort  the  admission.} 
Beneath  the  threshold  of  the  king  of 
I  lahomey's  palace  is  set  a  charm  which 
causes  his  wives  internal  pains  when- 
ever they  arc  guilty  of  misconduct, 
ami    so   they   often    find    themselves 

trained  to  make  a  voluntary  con- 

m  of  their  guilt. §  To  this  cate- 
gory ot  beliefs  belongs  the  so-called 
Judgment  by  the  Lizard,  which  is  in 

le  among  the  inhabitants  of  Sene- 
gal A  smith  beats  upon  a  lizard 
with  his  hammer:  the  fear  of  incur- 
ring the  evil  fortune  which  is  supposed 
to  follow  from  this  performance  is  ex- 
pected to  bring  the  thief  to  a  confes- 
sion, and  it  usually  does.||  Many  simi- 
lai  delusions  are  recorded  in  books  of 
travel.  But  especially  noteworthy  is 
the  Obeah  Of  the  West  India  Islands. 
particularly  Jamaica,  a  baneful  super- 
stition for  the  eradication  of  which  the 
most  stringent  enactments  of  law  have 
proved  insufficient.  I  is  influence  upon 
the  minds  of  the  Negroes  is  so  great 
that  at  one  period  it  notably  increased 
mortality  among  them  ;  at  another. 
stirred  them  up  to  mutiny,  by  impress- 
ing them  with  a  belief  that  they  were 
invulnerable." 

Thus  fetiches  serve  for  ordeals. 
which  among  the  Negroes  usually  con- 
sist of  poisonous  potions,  or  of  emetics 


•  Proyart's    Geschichte  von    Loango,    Ka- 
i  u.  s.  w.  Aus  dem  Franzdsischen,    Leip- 

f  Bastian,  S.  Salv.  61. 
j  Eiecquard,  Keise  an   die    Kiiste   und   in 
mere  von  Westafrika.    Leipzig,  if 

i    Dahomey    and    the    Dahomans. 
Paris,  1851,  p.  55. 

'..iliqucs.    Paris, 
185.3,  P-  *°2- 

'  Bryan  Edwards,  Hist,  des  Colon.  Anglai- 
ses.  p.  266;  Waitz,II.  190. 


and  drastic  agents.*  The  fetich  has 
power  to  punish  the  guilty:  the  inno- 
cent he  will  not  hurt.  As  the  f<  ti<  h 
must  come  into  bodily  contact  with 

:    the  ordeal,  the 
is  required  to  drink  fetich-water,1  or 
water  in    which  the    bark   of  the    wild 
manioc,  or  some  other   substance  has 

been  steeped.  According  to  Halleur, 
■•  fetich-water  is  prepared  from  the  bark 

of  the  tree  odum.  It  is  supposed  that, 
as  this  tree  is  always  a  fetich,  when  a 
person  accused  of  crime  drinks  the 
water  in  which  its  bark  has  been 
steeped,  the  fetich  enters  into  him  and 
thus  discovers  either  his  guilt  or  his 
innocence.  If  the  accused  party 
vomits,  it  is  a  sign  that  the  fetich  has 
discovered  his  innocence,  and  is  quit- 
ting, his  body :  but  if  the  fetich-water 
is  retained,  then  the  fetich  has  discov- 
ered his  guilt,  and  will  not  quit  him 
until  he  has  been  punished."  t  "  The 
accused  may.  under  certain  conditions, 
send  a  slave  to  take  the  questionable 
potion  in  his  stead.  Many,  however,  of 
their  own  accord  apply  to  have  the  fe- 
tich-water administered  to  them,  to  be 
purified  by  the  ordeal."?;  Very  often 
the  accused  has  the  magical  potion 
given  to  him  without  his  knowledge, 
so  that  the  savage  lives  in  constant 
fear  lest  any  one  should  employ  this 
redoubtable  form  of  fetich  against 
hiniN  The  power  of  this  spell  may  be 
estimated  from  the  fact  that  the  trading- 
post  of  Bimbia,  between  the  Calabar 
and  the  Cameroons,  and  opposite  to 
Fernando  Po,  which  was  at  one  time 
a  missionary  station,  has  become  al- 
most entirely  depopulated,  owing  to 
the  employment  of  the  fetich-water 
during  many  years  bv  the  notables  of 
the  place  on  every  slight  occasion.  || 
Nor  is  the  ordeal  by  tire  or  that  by 
water  unknown  in   Africa.      In  Mada- 


•  Winterbottom,  p.  172;  Knlcr.  Eini 
tizen  iiber  Bonny.    Gottingen,   1848,  S.   127 
,/i.  Histor.  Beschr.  der  Konigrei- 
che  Congo,  et< ..  1694,  94,  io.s  seqq. :  Proyart, 

S.  141. 

;  Bastian,   San   Salvador,  S.  84,306.      Cf. 
S.  203. 

1 1  illeur,  S.  34. 
^  Bastian,  S.  Salvador,  S.  85. 
Ibid.  S.  106. 


FETICHISM. 


29 


gascar  the  accused  person  has  to  un- ! 
dergo  the  ordeal  of  red-hot  iron.* 
Among  the  Malay  Lapongs  the  glow- 
ing iron  is  applied  to  the  tongue  of 
the  accused,t  while  among  the  An- 
taymours  the  ordeal  requires  him  to 
swim  across  a  stream  inhabited  by 
caymans. 

If  a  fetich  which  first  owed  its  dis- 
tinction to  accident,  displays  its  power 
again  on  another  occasion,  it  may  eas- 
ily transcend  the  rank  of  being  one 
man's  fetich  and  be  adopted  by  an  en- 
tire family,  or  even  by  a  larger  aggre- 
gation. For  in  America,  Africa,  and 
Siberia,!  each  individual  has  his 
separate  fetich  ;  each  family,  and  even 
each  tribe,  their  respective  fetiches. 
The  fetich  of  a  tribe  is  honored  with 
more  pious  and  constant  devotion 
than  the  inferior  fetiches,  as  having 
for  a  longer  period  shown  his  effi- 
ciency^ Thus  there  are  Grand 
Fetiches,  which  are  regarded  with  pro- 
found awe,  and  which,  in  the  shape  of 
mountains,  trees,  rocks,  etc.,  protect 
the  chiefs  or  the  territory  of  the 
tribe. ||  The  fate  of  mankind  is  by 
the  American  Indian  thought  to  de- 
pend upon  the  belt  of  wampum.     The 

*Leguevel  de  Lacombe,  Voy.  a  Madagas- 
car (1S23-30).      Paris,  1840,  I.233. 

t  Waitz,  Anthrop.  V.  Abth.  I.  S.  149.  Cf. 
II.  523- 

J  Charlevoix,  p.  344,  346.  Lettres  edif. 
Xouv.  Ed.  VI.  174.  De  Bry,  Descriptio  au- 
rileri  Reeni  Guineas  in  Part  VI.  of  India  Ori- 
entalis,  VI.  21.  Oldendorp,  Geschichte  der 
Mission  der  evangelischen  Briider  auf  den 
caraibischen  Inseln  St.  Thomas,  St.  Croix, 
and  St.  Jean,  herausgegeben  von  J.  J.  Bas- 
sonet.  Barby,  1777,  I.  320  ff.  Des  Marchais, 
V<  >yage  en  Guinee,  Isles  voisines  et  a  Cayenne 
en  1725-27  parle  P.  Labat.  Amsterdam,  1731, 
II.  131,152.     Georgi,  Beschreibung,  S.  3S4. 

§J.  B.  Miiller,  Moeurs  et  Usages  des  Os- 
tiakes,  in  the  Recueil  des  Voyages  au  Nord. 
Anist.- 1731,  Tom.  viii,  413,414:  "  Les  Os- 
tiakes  ont  beaucoup  plus  de  veneration  pour 
leurs  idoles  publiques,  qu'ils  ne  depouillent 
pas  et  n'abandonnent  pas  comme  les  autres  ; 
mais  ils  les  estiment  au  contraire,  et  les  rever- 
ent comme  etant  d'ancienne  date  et  d'une  au- 
torite  recue  et  averee. 

||  De  Bry,  vi.  21.  Des  Marchais,  I.  297: 
"  Les  rois  et  les  pais  en  ontd'autres  qu'ils 
appellent  les  grands  Fetiches,  qui  conservent 
le  prince  ou  le  pais  :  telle  est  quelquefois  une 
grande  montagne,  un  gros  rocher,  un  grand 
arbree,"  etc 


chief  of  the  Muemba  is  Chiti  Muculo, 
'•  the  Great  Stick,  the  Great  Tree,-' 
The  center  of  religious  and  political 
life  among  the  YYanikas  is  the  Muansa, 
in  whose  honor  the  tribe  celebrate 
roaring  festivals,  and  which  is  to  be 
approached  only  by  the  chief.  This 
holy  of  holies  is  a  wooden  instrument 
which  emits  a  peculiar  buzzing 
sound.*  The  Grand  Fetiches  have 
their  mysterious  influence  intensified, 
by  being,  as  far  as  possible,  withheld 
from  the  gaze  of  the  profane.  "  The 
Grand  Fetich,''  says  Bastian,  speak- 
ing of  one  in  Congo,  "  dwells  in  the 
midst  of  the  bush,  where  no  man  sees 
him,  or  can  see  him.  When  he  dies, 
the  fetich-priests  carefully  collect  his 
bones,  in  order  to  reanimate  them  ; 
and  supply  them  with  nourishment,  so 
that  the  Fetich  may  anew  gain  flesh 
and  blood."  t 

Nor  do  the  Negroes  regard  the 
Christian  religion  as  anything  but  the 
worship  of  a  Grand  Fetich.))  Thus  San  — f- 
Salvador  (called  by-sfne  natives 
Congo  dia  Gunga — the  tones  of  the 
bells — on  account  of  the  great  num- 
ber of  its  churches  and  convents) 
was  widely  known  and  feared  through- 
out South  Africa,  as  the  home  of  a 
powerful  fetich.  +  The  negro  is  so 
rooted  in  this  mode  of  apprehending 
things,  that  he  is  ever  returning  to  it, 
or  rather,  he  never  quite  gives  it  up. 
"  It  has  ever  been  the  study  of  the 
missionaries  to  check  the  abominable 
practices  of  fetichism,  and  with  the 
aid  of  the  civil  power  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  abolishing  the  worst  fea- 
tures of  this  Moloch  worship,  though 
not  in  substituting  any  other  religion 
in  its  place,  and  the  Negroes  have  ad- 
vanced only  so  far  toward  conversion 
as  to  use  salt."  §  The  only  reason 
however  that  induced  them  to  go  even 
thus  far  was,  that  they  thought  salt 
would  cause  their  children  to  grow 
fat.  But  they  soon  refused  salt  again, 
first  because  the  ceremony  cost  too 
clearly,  and  secondly,  because,  as  they 

*  Waitz,  Anthrop.  III.  190  ;  II.  422,  424. 
f  Bastian,  S.  Salv.  S.  82. 
J  Bastian,  S.  Salv.  S.  17  fr 
§  Ibid.  S.  96. 


30 


1  1.1  l«   IIIvM. 


said,  the  elephant  grows  Eat  though 
he  uses  do  salt.  "  In  <  'ongo,  where 
the  ruins  of  churches  have  served  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  ol  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  the  natives  account  for 
their  ignorance  ol  Christianity  bj  say- 
ing that  the  Desu  ol  the  Portuguese  is 
too  might)  .i  fetii  h  for  common  folk, 
ami   so   was    reserved   for   the    king 

alone,  while  his  subjects  had  more 
comfort  in  worshiping  fetiches  of  the 
time  of  Chitome,  Guardian  of  the  Sa- 
cred Fire.*  A  Christian  priest  is  for 
them  only  a  fetich  priest  practicing 
peculiar  fetich  ceremonies.  •"When 
the  slaves,  torn  from  family  and 
friends  were  put  on  shipboard  in 
chains,  to  drag  out  a  miserable  exist 
ence  over  sea  beneath  a  foreign  sky, 
and  in  foreign  lands,  the  pious  bishop 
of  Loanda  sat  on  the  stone  seat  at  the 
end  of  the  wharf  and  assured  them, 
with  his  apostolical  benediction,  ol  a 
future  replete  with  joys  unutterable, 
with  which  the  brief  period  of  their 
probation  here  below  durst  not  be 
compared.  The  poor  Negroes  under- 
stood nothing  of  the  ceremony  but 
this,  that  the  white  man's  fetich  now 
deprived  them  of  their  last  hope  of 
again  seeing  their  native  place. 
Their  names  however  were  registered 
in  the  account  presented  to  the  Pope 
by  the  society  cle  propaganda  tide,  to 
be  by  him  duly  authenticated  and  sub- 
mitted to  St.  Peter."t 

As  all  the  savage's  thoughts  and  the 
whole  conduct  of  his  life  are  governed 
by  fetichism,  he  regards  his  fetiches  as 
absolutely  necessary  to  Ins  existence. 
Any  rude  shock  given  to  this  system 
of  ideas  and  usage,  causes  emotions  in 
the  mind  of  the  savage,  as  painful  as 
those  aroused  in  men  of  other  beliefs 
bv  the  act  of  sacrilege,  and  the  hatred 
of  the  blacks  for  the  whites  is  largely 
owing  to  the  disregard  of  this  fact  on 
the  part  of  the  latter,  and  to  the  daily 
and  hourly  insults  which  they  thus 
to  the  black  man's  religion.  Bastian 
wished  to  take  a  bath  in  a  river  near 
a  certain  Negro  village.     As  he  was 


S.  96. 
Mbid. 


on  his  way  he  was  met  by  the  Mafooka, 

the  oldest  man  in  the  place,  accom- 
panied by  the  entire  population.  "  (  >n 
inquiring  what  he  wanted,  I  found 
that    he    desired    nie    not    to    go    anv 

nearer  to  the  water;  and  he  promised 
that  my  name  should  live  for  all  time 
in  the  songs  of  that  valley,  if  1  would 
yield  to  his  most  humble  entreaty.  I 
scarce  thought  it  worth  while  to  pay 
any  attention  to  the  absurd  request, 
which  I  judged  to  have  been  made 
simply  with  a  view  to  deprive  me  of  a 
pleasure  I  had  long  coveted,  so  I  told 
the  gabbing  old  man  to  betake  him  to 
a  warmer  region  than  his  own  country, 
and  ordered  my  carriers  to  go  on. 
This  however  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  do,  for  screaming  children  in 
swarms  grasped  them  by  the  legs,  and 
threw  themselves  upon  the  ground  be- 
fore them,  to  block  up  the  way.  In 
heart-rending  tones  of  wailing  the  Ma- 
fooka, in  the  mean  while,  struck  up  a 
song  of  woe,  the  effect  of  which  was  in- 
creased to  the  most  painful  degree  by 
the  chorus,  in  which  all  joined.  The 
expression  of  blank  despair  was  vis- 
ible on  every  countenance.  Poor 
people  !  Small  wonder  it  was  so  :  for 
the  next  day,  on  further  inquiry.  I 
learned  that  had  I  looked  upon  the 
stream,  its  sources  would  have  been 
dried  up  forever,  and  their  only  sup- 
ply of  water  cut  off!  Rather  than 
bring  upon  my  soul  the  guilt  of  so 
great  a  catastrophe,  I  preferred  to  re- 
turn unrefreshed As   we    came 

near  another  village,  my  carriers 
halted,  and  the  interpreter  said  my 
coming  must  be  announced  before- 
hand. I  therefore  dispatched  him  to 
make  the  announcement.  On  his  re- 
turn he  informed  me  that  the  usages 
of  that  country  did  not  permit  any  one 
to  pass  through  the  village  in  a  hang- 
ing-mat. To  avoid  delay,  1  submitted 
to  the  regulation  :  but  when  he  in- 
sisted on  my  going  through  the  same 
formalities  at  the  next  village  I  or- 
dered the  bearers  to  move  on.  They 
hesitated,  and  only  resumed  the 
journev  after  repeated  commands. 
Scarce  had  we  reached  the  first  hut, 
when  with  wild  cries  the  entire   oopu- 


FETICHISM. 


31 


lation,  armed  with  spears,  sticks  and  I 
muskets,  surrounded  my  mat-palanquin 
and  began  to  belabor  the  carriers. 
In  the  mean  time  I  had  distributed 
among  my  coolies  the  guns  I  had  with 
me  for  presents,  and,  alighting  at  the 
moment  of  the  attack,  we  soon  had 
an  unobstructed  passage.  I  passed 
through  the  villages  thereafter  without 
difficulty,  and  so  I  saved  much  time 
which  else  had  been  wasted  in  the  ob- 
servance of  ancient  customs.  Wher- 
ever I  observed  that  this  disregard  for 
ceremony  gave  very  deep  offense,  I 
distributed  a  few  gifts  among  the  sen- 
iors to  appease  them."* 

Thus  the  savage  is  the  abject  slave 
of  customs  which  to  us  appear  ridicu- 
lous ;  and  so  little  doubt  has  the  Ne- 
gro as  to  the  truth  of  his  fetichistic 
religion,  that  many  of  them  ascribe 
the  contempt  of  Europeans  for  the 
fetiches  to  the  natural  stupidity  of  the 
white  man.t  Every  Negro,  even  the 
sternest  autocrats  and  despots,  bow 
in  reverence  before  the  fetich.  "  Every 
year  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Sundi 
were  required  to  wage  a  symbolic  con- 
test with  the  chief  fetich  priest,  by  the 
sacred  tree  in  Gimbo  Amburi ;  they 
were  always  worsted,  and  obliged  to 
acknowledge  the  fetich's  power."  t 
Even  if  the  Negroes  do  now  and  then 
admit  the  absurdity  of  their  faith  and 
worship,  still  they  cling  to  them  be- 
cause tradition  vouches  for  them  and 
they  themselves  know  of  nothing 
better.§ 

2.     The  Range  of  Fetich  Influence. 

The  efficiency  of  the  fetich  is,  for 
the  savage,  beyond  all  question,  and 
there  is  no  limit  assignable  for  its  in- 
fluence. I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
each  individual  fetich  possesses  this 
unlimited  power,  but  that  there  is 
nothing  which  is  not  subject  to  one 
fetich  or  another.  The  question  for 
the  savage   is  what  kind   of   objects 


*Bastian,  60,  108. 

t  Livingstone,  Missionary  Travs.    (Germ. 
Trans.).     Leipzig,  1858,  II.  83. 
t  Bastian,  204. 
§  Bosmann,  III.  2S1. 


may  be  employed  as  fetiches  to  meet 
various  contingencies.  Not  to  speak 
of  the  daily  discovery  of  fetich  power 
in  new  objects,  there  are  sundry 
things  which  have  long  been  known 
as  fetich  for  certain  defined  purposes, 
and  which,  as  such,  are  received  by 
all.  Now  a  fetich  may  be  either 
friendly  or  hostile  toward  me.  First, 
he  shows  himself  friendly  toward  me 
when  he  confers  a  benefit,  or  when  he 
preserves  me  from  evil.  The  Cabin- 
da  Negroes  always  carry  their  little 
idols  (Manipancha)  about  with  them  ; 
commune  with  them  in  a  state  of  high 
nervous  excitement ;  counsel  with 
them  as  to  the  future ;  obtain  from 
them  news  about  home  and  family, 
and  have  firm  faith  in  the  revelations 
which  they  suppose  they  receive  from 
their  fetiches.*  Some  American  In- 
dians carry  similar  figures,  carefully 
wrapped  up,  in  their  medicine-bags. 
On  solemn  occasions  they  are  taken 
out  and  treated  with  great  reverence. f 
In  short,  no  action  of  any  moment  is 
commenced,  whether  the  chase,  or 
fishing,  or  war,  without  first  consult- 
ing the  fetiches  as  to  its  ultimate  suc- 
cess and  as  to  the  best  mode  of  com- 
mencing it.$  As  in  the  ordeal,  the 
fetich  here  appears  as  a  Being  that 
knows  hidden  things  :  in  the  ordeal, 
things  past,  here  things  to  come. 
This  is  the  original  of  the  Oracles. 
On  the  Gold  Coast  the  most  renowned 
Oracle  is  at  Mankassim.§  But  the 
fetiches  confer  other  benefits,  besides 
revealing  the  past  and  the  future. 
They  bring  "  luck  ;  "  and  for  this  pur- 
pose they  are  carried  on  fishing  and 
hunting  expeditions  and  when  the 
tribe  goes  to  war.  There  are  fetiches 
for  river  fish  and  for  sea  fish  ;  for 
favoring  winds  ;  for  a  cheap  market ; 
for    health;    for     clear   sight,     etc. || 


*  Bastian,  S.   81;  Tams,  Die  portug.     Be- 
sitzungen  in  S.  W.  Afrika.     Hamb.  1845,   S. 
89. 
-  t  Schoolcraft,  Information,  etc.,  '\  .  169. 

|  Cf.  Meiners,  Allg.  Krit.  Gesch.  d.  R.  Bd. 

I,  S.  176. 

§  Cruickshank,  Eighteen  years     on    Gold 
Coast  (1834),  p.  227. 

||  Bastian,    S.  Salv.    S.  So  ;  Des  Marchais, 

II.  130  seqq.,  152  seqq.  ;  Bosmann,    179  ff  ; 


I  !    I  1<    III^M. 


"The  usual  form  of  a  fetich  specially! 
intended  for  those  on  .1  journey  is  a 

ball  of  red  cloth,  within  which  the 
fetich  priest  encloses  some  powerful 
medicine,  generally  the  extract  of 
some  plant  (milongo).  Further,  the 
\       i  suspends  all  aboul  his  person 

3  with  nii>s!  complicated   knots. 

.  bullets,  and  in  a  word  any  ob- 
that  strikes  his  fancy.  The 
Bushman  who  acted  as  my  guide  in 
Shemba-Shemba  had  an  image  three 
feel  long  dangling  from  his  belt, 
which  he  never  would  think  of  remov- 
ing. In  fact,  the  heavier  the  load 
with  which  von  burden  a  Negro,  the 
greater  the  number  of  fetiches  he  in 
turn  will  add,  to  make  things  even."  * 
The  ordinary  fetich  is  generally  a  very 
unpretentious  object — often  a  couple 
of  leaves  from  a  tree.f  "  The  poorer 
Negroes  of  the  interior  are  often 
quite  content  if  they  only  have  a  cord 
to  tie  around  the  calf  of  the  leg. 
Frequently  this  cord  is  of  matebbe, 
which,  like  plumes  in  the  hair,  gives 
invulnerability.  The  Kroo  Negroes 
almost  universally  wear  this  cord 
around  the  shank,  but  more  loosely 
than  the  Caraibs.  The  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries were  for  a  while  much  elated 
with  the  thought  that  they  had  rooted 
out  this  particular  form  of  fetichism, 
by  substituting  for  the  common  cord 
one  twisted  out  of  palm-leaves  blessed 
on  Palm  Sunday."!:  Among  the 
Kaffirs  the  warriors  are  rendered  in- 
vulnerable by  means  of  a  black  cross 
on  their  foreheads  and  black  stripes 
on  the  cheeks,  both  painted  by  the 
[nyanga,  or  fetich-priest.  This  con- 
trivance makes  the  warrior  invisible, 
while  it  deprives  the  enemy  of  his 
sight  and  fills  him  with  terror.*?  The 
•  's  faith  in  his  fetich  which  ren- 
ders   him   invulnerable    and    disables 


.  I  ildendorp,  I.  324 ;  <  '■■ 
lu    Nord.  VIII.  410-414:  Charle- 
voix, p.    340,    34S  ;   Lettrcs  editiantcs,  Nouv. 
Ed.  VI.  1- 1 
•  Bastian,  S.  So. 
t  Halleur,  [9.  Cf.  Wait/.  II.  S.  1S6. 

;  .in.  S.  79. 
S  Donne,  Zulu-Kafir  Dictionary.     Cape  T. 
1857,  p.  303. 


his  enemy's  arm  is  so  strong,  that  he 

will  court  danger,  suffer  arrows  to    be 

shot   at   him.   and  allow  his  anus  and 

legs  to  be  hewn 

lint    yet    some    discretion    is    to    In- 
used  in   tin-    1  hoi(  I-   of    the   materia] 
which   constitutes   the   feti<  h.  and    the 
Savage    will    very   naturally  suffer    his 
e  to  be  determined  by  the    value 

of  the  object  he  selei  ts.     The  natives 

of  Siberia  prefer  metallic  fetiches  to 
all  others,  these  being,  as  they  sup- 
by  reason  of  their  great  age, 
ssed  of  a  longer  experience  atjd 
a  higher  wisdom  than  are  possessed 
by  other  materials  less  durable  by 
nature.! 

In  warding  off  evil  the  fetich  does 
but  exhibit  the  other  side  of  his  benef- 
icent disposition.  There  are  fetiches 
against  thunder;  to  extract  thorns 
that  have  penetrated  into  the  feet . 
against  wild  beasts;  to  save  one  from 
missing  his  path,  etc. J  By  being 
employed  against  disease,  the  fetich 
becomes  medicinal,  and  thus  also  the 
fetich-priest  is  at  the  same  time  nec- 
essarily a  medicine-man.  or  physician. $ 
"When  on  Fernando  Po  conta, 
diseases  break  out  among  the  children 
the  skin  of  a  snake  is  fastened  to  a 
pole  in  the  middle  of  the  market-place, 
and  thither  mothers  bring  their  in- 
fants, to  touch  this  fetich.  In  the  vil- 
lage of  Issapoo  the  renewal  of  this 
snake-skin  in  the  Reossa  (market- 
place) is  the  occasion  of  an  annual 
festival,  and  it  is  hist  touched  by 
the  infants  born  during  the  preceding 
year."  ||  The  savage,  being  ignorant 
of  the  real  cause  of  disease,  attributes 
it  directly  to  the  action  of  a  hostile 
fetich,   and    always   judges  death   to 

*  Provart,  p.  192;  Bowdich,  p.  364  seqq.; 
Koler,  s.  1:7. 

t  Voyages  au  Nord.  VIII.  414.  "lis  out 
beaucoup  tic  confiance  en  elles,  surtout 
quand  elles  son!  d'airain,  cela  leur  donnaut. 
a  ce  qu'ils  imaginent,  une  sorte  d'immortalite*, 
parce  qu'elles  onl  resisti  a  la  corruption  du 
temps  immemorial,  ct  qu'elles  ont  acquis, 
pendant  tant  d'annees,  beaucoup  de  lumieres 
et  d'experience. 

\  Bastian,  So. 

§  //W.  Si,  138. 
Bastian,  31S,  319. 


FETICH  ISM. 


33 


be  brought  about  by  witchcraft.* 
Against  such  a  power  naught  can 
avail,  save  counter  charms,  to  be  ob- 
tained by  the  priest  or  magician  from 
their  more  potent  fetiches.  It  is 
true,  the  Mandigoes  emplov  many 
wholesome  medicinal  agents — herbs. 
potions,  infusions — but  yet  they  gen- 
erally make  only  external  applica- 
tions of  them.t  As  a  lock  of  hair, 
or  a  few  drops  of  blood,  may  be  so 
enchanted  as  to  throw  a  spell  upon 
the  person  from  whom  they  were 
taken,  the  Kaffirs,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  suspicion  of  such  prac- 
tices, are  always  very  careful  to 
restore  such  articles — vermin  in- 
cluded— to  the  owner,  so  that  he  may 
secretly  bury  them  out  of  sight,  or 
destroy  them,  t  "  In  case  of  sick- 
ness they  call  in  a  male  or  female 
conjurer ;  and  of  these  there  is  one 
specially  qualified  to  deal  with  each 
special  class  of  diseases.  The  con- 
jurer undertakes  to  blow  counter  to 
the  evil  wind  sent  from  a  distance  by 
some  enemy :  if,  however,  he  is  un- 
successful in  this,  nor  yet  can  prevail 
with  the  aid  of  music,  then  he  gives  up 
his  patient  to  the  wicked  daemon."  § 
'•When  a  Xegro  falls  sick,"  says 
Halleur,  who  describes  the  scene 
more  particularly,  "  his  relatives  apply 
to  the  fetich-priest.  After  he  has 
got  their  offering  of  rum  and  cowries 
(for  without  these  gifts  the  holy  man 
is  quite  inaccessible)  he  inquires  of 
his  fetich,  who  it  is  that  has  bewitched 
the  sick  man  :  for  they  believe  that 
disease  is  caused  only  by  witchcraft. 
The  priest  next  fashions  out  of  clay  an 
image  of  the  conjurer  named  bv  the 
fetich  and  carries  it  into  the  forest." 
This  same  course  is  followed  by  the 
medicine-men  among  the  American 
Indians.  They  stab  the  image  with 
knives,  or  shoot  arrows  into  it,  where- 

*  Ibid.  91  ;  Halleur,  S.  32  ;  Waitz,  II.  1S8, 
5°3- 

t  Park,  Voyage  dans  l'interieur  de  I'Afrique. 
Paris,  an  VIII.  II.  27  seqq.;  Cord.-Laing, 
Voyage  dans  le  Timani,  le  Kouranko  et  le 
Soulimana  (1S22).     Paris,  1826,  p.  350. 

\  Steedman,  Wandering  and  Adventures  in 
the  Interior  of  Africa.     London,  1835,  I.  266. 

§  Bastian,  S7. 


by  the  witchcraft  is  turned  against 
the  conjurer  himself.  It  frequently 
happens  that  he  who  is  the  bewitched 
actually  regards  himself  as  held  by  a 
spell,  and  soon  dies  of  profound  mel- 
ancholy.* '•  But,"  continues  Halleur, 
"  if  the  spell  is  obstinate,  and  refuses 
to  give  way,  then  the  rum-offering 
and  the  ceremonies  of  disenchantment 
must  be  repeated,  and  the  patient 
treated  with  remedies  prescribed  by 
the  fetich,  and  prepared  by  the  priest. 
This  treatment  is  followed  up  till  the 
sick  man  either  recovers,  or  succumbs 
to  the  power  of  the  over-strong 
spell.  The  corpse  is  borne  about  the 
entire  village  previous  to  its  inter- 
ment in  its  former  home.  Oftentimes 
the  bearers,  when  passing  the  house 
of  one  they  dislike,  or  on  meeting 
such  a  one  on  the  street,  halt  sud- 
denly, pretending  that  the  corpse 
refuses  to  go  any  further.  The  priest 
asks  of  the  dead  man  the  reason  of 
this  unwillingness  to  proceed,  and 
gets  for  answer  that  the  occupant  of 
the  house  or  the  passenger  in  question 
is  the  conjurer  that  bewitched  him. 
The  man  is  at  once  arrested  and  held 
to  prove  his  innocence,  after  the 
funeral  is  over.  This  proof  is  made 
by  the  administration  of  the  fetich- 
water.  The  punishment  is  death,  in 
case  the  suspected  murderer  cannot 
prove  his  innocence,  or  if,  when 
proved  guilty,  he  cannot  purchase 
life  for  a  considerable  sum."  f 
"  When  the  draught  of  fetich  water 
proves  fatal  to  the  party  accused,  the 
priests  search  for  the  seat  of  the  en- 
chantment in  the  dead  body,  and  ex- 
hibit to  the  people  portions  of  the 
viscera  forcibly  torn  from  their  place 
and  now  unrecognizable,  as  corpora 
delicti^  just  as  the  medicine-men  pre- 
tend to  extract  a  splinter  or  a  stone. % 
Among  the  Eambarras,  if  one  of 
the  highest  caste  of  the  Kubaris  fall 


*De  la  Potherie,  Hist,  de  l'Amer.  septentr. 
Paris,  1722,  II.  30;  Keating,  Narr.  of  an 
Exped.  to  the  Source  of  St.  Peter's  Riv. 
London,  1825,  II.  159. 

t  Halleur,  S  32  ff. ;  Vignon  in  X.  Ann.  des 
Voy.  1856,  IV.  299;  Waitz,  II.  189. 

1  Bastian,  85. 


I  1II<  HISM. 


the  presumptive  cause  of  his 
disordei  is,  that  someone  has,  whether 
purpose!)  01  unawares,  touched  one 
of  his  wives.  l*he  oftender,  who 
must  be  discovered,  and  who  is 

by  the  greal  orai  le  of  the 
Buri,  is  either  banished  or  put  to 
death.4  It  may,  however,  appear  to 
the  pnest  that  the  disease  was  due  to 
the  patient's  own  transgression,  in 
having  forsworn,  or  omitted  the  cus- 
tom.uv  offering 

The  fetich  lias  power  to  heal  bodily 
diseases;    a   draught   of   fetich-water 
can  discover  in  the  heart  the  proofs 
whether  ol  guilt  or  of  innocence  ;  and 
it   is   therefore    but   natural    that   it 
shduld    have    also    power    to     banish 
moral  ills.     During  the  festival  of  the 
First    Fruits    the    men    of    the   Creek 
tribe   of    American    Indians  used   to; 
take  after  a  prolonged  fast,  the  war- 
medicine,   being   strong   emetics    and 
drastic    agents,}:    while     the    women 
bathed   and  washed   themselves.     All 
offenses,   with    the  exception  of  mur- 
der, were  thus  blotted  OUt.§      It  is  be- 
yond question  that  the  idea  of  purifi- 
cation from  sin  attached  to  these  cer- 
emonies,  but   especially   to   the   bath 
and      the     drinking    of     the     "black 
draught  "  as  it  was  called,  an  infusion 
of   dried  cassine-leaves.      The  taking 
of  this  draught  was  accompanied  with 
peculiar    rites;    and    it    was    intended 
also    to   '"give    courage    and    cement 
friendship."      The  Cherokees  used  a 
similar   potion,    "  to   wash    their    sins 
away,"   as  they  said. ||     "Though   the 
superficial    observer    might  here   sus- 
pect a  reminiscence  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, still   if   we    look    at    the   matter 
more    nearly   it    will    scarcely  appear 
probable  that  so  important   and    mys- 
tic- a  rite  should  have  had  such  an   or- 
igin,   especially    as    we    seek    in    vain 


Efenel,   Voy.    dans     I'Afrique     occid. 
<iXr,-.,i.    Pa«Si  1846,  I.  ;,iS. 
t  1 '.iisni ann,  T  I.  184. 

100I craft,  Information  resp.  tin-  His- 
tory, Condition  and  1  ;  the  Indian 
Tribes.      I'hila.  1851,  V.  68j>. 

§  Adair.  Hist.  Ainer.  Indians.     Lond 
D.  I     :.   1  20  ;    School  I  r.  V.  2'  * 

Memoirs  oi  Timberlake.     Lond.  17 


among    these   tribes   for   any  evidence 
Ol   their   having   been    ever   in    contact 

with  the  ( Christian  religion."* 

The  savage  attributes  to  t<  iii  h  in- 
fluent e  not  .done  disease    and  di  ath, 
bin  every  phenomenon  he  is  unable 
iunl  for,  as.  foi  instant  e,  storms 
and  the  changes  ol  weather.     He  is 
thus   furnished   with    an   explanation 
for  everything;   and   this  explanation 
is  entirely  satisfactory  to    him.      It    is 
plain  that  this  fact  of  the   savage   hav- 
ing ever  ready  at  hand  such  unques- 
tioned '"  ultimate  reasons  "  to  a<  count 
for  everything  must  check  the  devel- 
opment   of    his     mind,  or,    in     other 
words,   must   retard   his   progress   tow- 
ard   civilization.      For     lie     knows     a 
priori  the  cause  ot    phenomena,  and 
the    means   by    which    they  are    pro- 
duced :  hence  it  never  occurs  to  him 
to  study  their  natural  causes  and  con- 
ditions: consequently  he  does  not  rec- 
ognize  the   natural    relations  between 
things,  and  fails  to  discover  that  the 
supposed    cause    is    no   cause   at   all. 
Hls  mind  accordingly  makes  no  ad- 
vance, but  is  ever  under  the   tyranny 
\  of  hallucination.     And  every  a  priori 
principle    has    the    like     tendency    to 
I  check    the    mind's  development ;    For 
'  here   it   is  all   one  whether   it   is   the 
Negro  that   says:   this   is  the  work  of 
the  fetich:  or  whether  it  is  the  Mo- 
hammedan that  says:  this  is  Allah's 
work.      A  formula  explains  everything 
for  them   both,   and  by  its  very  expla- 
nation leaves  everything  unexplained. 
Fetiches  also  ward   off  evil    spirits. 
When  the  women  in  Shemba-Shemba 
have  occasion  to  quit   their  fields   for 
a    time,    they    strew     them   with    frag- 
ments of  pottery,  for  else  the  malign 
spirits  would  trample  down  the  crop.t 
The  Negroes    of    Whida  post   fetich 
images,  five  or  six  in<  hes  in  height, 
I  at   either    end    of    their    fields,  at    the 
'  doors  of  their   houses,  in   their  apart- 
ments,   court-yards    and    cattle-stalls, 
being  fully  convinced    that    else  evil- 
minded  spirits  or  men  would  do  them 


*  Wait/,    Anthr.  III.    209. 
among  the  Kutrirs,  II.  414. 
f  Bastian.  S.  I  - 


Similar    rites 


FETICHISM. 


35 


injury.*  The  same  custom  is  fol- ' 
lowed  by  the  Polynesians  of  New  i 
Zealand,  Hawaii,  Nukahiva  and  other 
islands.!  Burying-places,  too,  are  pro- 
tected by  potsherds  and  little  images.  | 
A  low,  thin  hedge  encircles  Negro 
villages,  at  a  distance  of  about  ioo 
paces  from  the  huts,  and  this  serves  I 
to  keep  aloof  evil  spirits. §  A  line  of  j 
twisted  bast  forms  a  cordon  of  de- 
fense round  about  a.  Boobie  village  in 
Fernando  Po.  Here  also  the  natives 
employ  mussel  shells  as  fetiches. 
When  the  devil  would  come  to  do 
them  harm,  his  feet  are  lacerated  by 
the  angular  points  of  the  shells.  || 
Seeing  that  spirits  have  such  fear  of 
the  fetiches  with  what  dread  thieves 
must  regard  them!  "Over  the  door- 
way of  the  Negro  hut  are  suspended 
roots  and  cast-off  rags,  and  often 
broken  egg-shells,  as  guardian  fe- 
tiches. Others  employ  a  block  of 
wood  with  the  likeness  of  a  human 
face  cut  in  it,  and  this  they  plant 
within  the  doorway  of  the  hut,  or  in 
their  fields;  yet  most  of  them  are 
contented  with  a  rather  smoothly- 
dressed  pole,  on  which  they  set  a 
snail's  shell,  as  a  most  potent  fetich." 
"  In  a  village  near  S.  Salvador  I  saw 
wooden  fetiches  with  lofty  plumes, 
set  up  'as  guardians  in  front  of  the 
houses  ;  in  front  of  the  main  entrance 
to  another  village  I  saw  an  empty 
pot  supported  on  a  forked  stick." 
"  They  have  no  locks  to  their  doors, 
nor  do  they  need  them,  for  but  rarely 
is  there  found  a  thief  so  foolhardy  as 
to  pass  the  fetich  posted  near  the 
threshold."  H       "The    Negro  avoids 

*  Des  Marchais,  II.  p.  153.  Ce  sont  pour 
1'ordinaire  des  petits  marmousets  de  terre 
rouge  ou  noire  de  cinq  ou  six  pouces  de 
hauteur;  ils  les  mettent  a  la  tete  et  a  la 
queue  de  leurs  champs,  aux  portes  de  leurs 
maisons,  dans  leurs  chambres,  dans  leurs 
cours,  dans  leurs  pares  a  cochons,  dans  leurs 
pouliers  ;  .  .  .  ce  sont  pour  eux  des  gardiens, 
des  sauve-gardes  a  qui  ils  se  croyent  redev- 
ables  du  bien  qu'ils  ont,  et  d'etre  a  couvert 
des  malheurs  qu'ils  craignent.  Cf.  also 
Rdmer,  Guinea,  S.  38. 

t  Gerland,  ap.  Waitz,  Anthr.  V.  2,  225. 

%  Bastian,  S.  Salvador,  S.   107,  124. 

§  Halleur,  S.  23. 

||  Bastian,  S.  316,  348. 

1  Cf.  Waitz,  II.  422,  S02. 


touching  them,  lest  a  curse  should 
come  upon  him."  *  The  following 
will  show  how  dangerous  a  thing  it  is 
merely  to  touch  a  fetich.  Captain 
Rytschkow,  having  entered  a  hut  in  a 
certain  YVotiak  village,  observed  lying 
on  a  board  that  was  fastened  to  the 
wall  something  which  he  took  to  be 
dried  grass.  He  approached  to  ex- 
amine it,  but  scarcely  had  he  taken  it 
in  hand  when  the  owner  of  the  hut 
and  his  wife,  with  loud  cries  of  dis- 
tress, ran  to  where  he  stood  and 
begged  him  piteously  not  to  touch 
their  Modor,  or  household  god. 
They  explained  to  him  how  the  most 
grievous  misfortune  would  befall  them 
if  even  one  of  the  family,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  a  stranger,  were  to  touch  the 
Modor.  This  Modor  consisted  of 
some  sprigs  of  fir,  which  a  certain 
aged  Wotiak  had  alone  the  right  to 
touch  and  to  distribute  among  the 
several  families. t  But  the  guardian 
power  of  fetiches  goes  farther  still : 
to  them  indeed  the  appeal  is  made, 
Videant  tie  respublica  del  rime  ntum 
capiat.  They  are  the  Protectors  of 
the  country  %  and  of  its  laws.  "  To 
give  due  sanction  to  a  law,  it  is  placed 
under  the  special  protection  of  a  fe- 
tich, whose  duty  it  then  is  to  punish 
violators  of  it,  as  also  the  one  who, 
knowing  of  a  violation,  does  not  lodge 
a  complaint  against  the  offender." 
Furthermore,  "  when  a  priest  admin- 
isters an  oath,  he  gives  to  both  par- 
ties a  draught  of  the  bitter  water,  and 
this,  laden  as  it  is  with  the  fetich's 
malediction,  will  slay  the  one  who 
proves  false. "§  The  Orang-Benuas 
in  Malacca  have  similar  usages,  and 
indeed  they  prevail  throughout  the 
entire  Malay  race,  being  practiced 
especially  when  they  form  alliances. 
They  drink  some  liquid  mixed  with 
blood,  in  which  a  dagger  or  the  points 


*  Waitz,  79,  iS6,  316,78,  348.  The  same 
is  related  of  the  Loando  Negroes  by  Proyart, 
I.  168,  169. 

t  Rytschkow,  Tagebuch  iiber  seine  Reise 
dutch  verschiedene  Provinzen  d.  Russ.  Rei- 
ches  in.  den  Jahren,  1769-71,  S.  166,  167. 

%  Des  Marchais,  I.  297. 

§  Bastian,  293,90;  Waitz,  II.  157  ;  Meiners, 
B.I.  176. 


1  I    I  I«    IMsM. 


.  have  been  dipped  ;  these 
will   kill  the  perjurer.*     The    Burats 
il  worship  i<>  a  lofty  rock  on 
the  shore  ol  Lake  Baikal.     They  who 
lake  an  oath  must  ascend  this  rock, 
and  on  its  summit  perform  the  usual 
1 1  is  the  firm  beliel  of  the  na- 
that  whosoever  profanes  by  per- 
jury the  saricd  mount  cm  ne\ er  c<  »me 
down  again,  and  that   the  mountain 
.slays  him.t 

Among  the  Africans,  too,  as  among 
the  Malays,  alliances  are  consecrated 
and  confirmed  by  being  placed  under 
the  protection  of  a  fetich.  "At  the 
conclusion  of  the   meal,  each    Macota 

-  and  kneels  before  the  \ 
who  puts  into  the  mouth  of  each  a 
piece  of  human  llcsh  reserved  from 
the  banquet,  so  that  by  partaking  in 
common  of  the  viand  they  may  be  all 
bound  together  by  an  indissoluble 
fetich.  In  Great  Bassam,  after  the 
ros  have  ascertained  the  portents 
betokened  by  the  entrails,  the  heart 
and  liver  of  the  victim  sacrificed  at 
the  forming  of  a  new  village,  together 
with  the  flesh  of  a  hen,  a  she-goat  and 
a  fish  are  baked  all  together  in  a 
pot,  and  the  entire  community  is  re- 
quired to  eat  of  the  mess,  under  pen- 
alty of  dying  within  the  year. J 

Tlie  fetich,  by  punishing  perjurers, 
maintains  the  stability  of  oaths  and 
of  alliances.  The  fidelity  of  the  sav- 
age depends  upon  his  fear  of  the  fe- 
tich :  and  were  he  to  lose  this  fear,  he 
would  be  free  from  every  obligation. 
When  therefore  he  would  renounce 
thes,-  obligations,  he  must  deprive  the 
fetich  of  all  power  to  do  him  injury, 
and  break  its  ban  if  that  can  be  d 
or  in  case  this  is  impossible,  he  must 
only  disregard  the  obligations,  and 
then  depend  upon  gifts  and  sacrifice 
to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  offended 
deity.  And  either  one  or  other  of 
these  two  courses  the  savage  in  real- 
ity  adopts.     The    spell    of   a    mighty 

*  Newbold,  Account  of  the  British  Settle- 
nii  ntS  in  the  Straits  of  Malaci  .1.  I. mid.  1S39, 
II.   JO*. 

t  isbrand,  Voy.  au  N.  'I  om.  \  III. ;  Pallas, 
.  ol.  Vblker,  I.  218. 

■  Bastian,  S.  154. 


fetich  maj  be  broken  by  that  of  one 
mightiei  still;  and  an  offended  fetich 
may  be  appeased  by  .uiits.*  The 
piiest  undertakes  to  make  the  offer- 
ing a<  <  eptable  to  the  feti<  h,  • 
render  him  harmless.  According  to 
1  ranga  N/i  gave  release 
from  a  sworn  obligation,  by  (.rasing 
it.  as  it  were,  from  the  tongue,  with 
the  fruit  of  the  palm-tree.  I  i 
too,  a  fetich  may  be  deprived  of  the 

to  hurt,  by  being  imprisoned. t 
The  power  of  the  fetich  is  gr< 
great  also  is  the  fear  which  he  inspires. 
Now.  just  as  my  fetich  can  do  injury 
to  other  men.  so  may  their  fetiches  in- 
jure me.  The  consequence  is  that  I 
must  be  in  a  state  of  constant  anxiety, 
and  ever  on  my  guard,  for  how  can  I 
say  but  that  some  one  is  possessed  of 
a  fetich  hostile  to  me.  which  he  may 
employ  against  me?  "The  savage 
anxiously  scans  a  stranger,  as  the  lat- 
ter may  perchance  be  the  owner  of  a 
formidable  fetich.  He  will  be  in- 
clined to  run  away ;  or.  in  case  he 
thinks  himself  strong  enough,  he  will 
try  to  make  away  with  the  new- 
comer."} In  this  point  of  view  the 
following  occurrence  is  characteristic. 
One  of  Bastian"s  suite  was  attacked 
and  robbed.  "  1  sent  a  force  to  the 
Elder  of  the  nearest  village ;  and  on 
his  refusing  to  come  of  his  own  ac- 
cord, they  compelled  him  to  come  to 
me.  As  the  attack  took  place  within 
his  jurisdiction.  I  held  him  account- 
able, and  required  him  either  to  dis- 
cover the  robbers  or  himself  to  make 
reparation  for  the  outrage.  He  pro- 
tested his  ignorance  of  the  affair  and 
his  inability  to  comply  with  my  de- 
mand. As  I  could  not  delay,  1  took 
out  my  note-book,  to  make  a  memo- 
randum of  the  name  of  the  place. 
So  soon  as  I  set  pencil  to  paper  he 
fell  into  a  violent  convulsive  tremor, 
and  prostrate  at  my  feet,  entreated 
me  not  to  undo  him  with  my  fetich- 


*Kosmann,  II.  54;  Monrad,  Gemalde  v.  d. 
Kiiste  von  Guinea  (1805-9).    Weimar,  1824, 

t  Wait/.  Anthr.  II.  185. 
J  Bastian,  S.  104. 


FETICH  I SM. 


37 


book,  for  that  he  was  ready  to  per- 
form whatever  I  should  require."* 

Accordingly  there  are  many  tribes 
which  have  gained  for  themselves  a 
■certain  degree  of  impunity  through 
the   terror  inspired  by  their  fetiches. f 

"  The  ointment  magya  sambo,  in- 
vented by  Tumba  Demba  II.,  daughter 
of  Donghi,  and  which  was  prepared 
from  the  body  of  an  infant  brayed  in 
a  mortar,  made  her  warriors  invulner- 
able, and  so  wrought  on  the  fears  of 
her  enemies  as  to  make  them  power- 
less."* 

The  fortunate  possessor  of  such  a 
"Grand  Fetich,"  which  domineers 
•over  the  fate  and  fortunes  of  others, 
will  prize  this  more  than  all  his  other 
property.  A  woman  held  a  fetich  of 
this  kind,  owned  by  her,  dearer  than 
all  her  children,  and  refused  the  offer 
of  five  slaves,  which  was  made  to  her 
for  it.§ 

The  hostile  fetich  may  be  concealed 
anywhere,  and  may  be  carried  any- 
where by  an  enemy  ;  so  that  a  man  is 
never  secure  from  danger.  If  the 
Negroes  would  take  vengeance  of  any 
one,  they  get  a  feticero  to  bewitch  a 
piece  of  meat  or  other  food  ;  and  this 
they  set  in  some  place  likely  to  be 
visited  by  their  adversary,  who  will 
thus  infallibly  come  by  his  death.  || 
Accordingly  the  Negro,  ever  in  dread 
•of  witchcraft,  at  every  turn  pronoun- 
ces a  counteracting  charm.  "  The 
host  must  always  first  taste  of  a  dish 
before  it  is  passed  to  his  guests,  so  as 
to  'extract  the  fetich,'  and  this  cus- 
tom is  universal  throughout  Africa."  U 
There  are  also  other  fetiches  to  meet 
this  danger.  "  To  guard  against 
fetich-water,  the  more  wealthy  provide 
themselves  with  cups  made  of  rhinoc- 
eros horn,  which  pass  here,  as  also  in 
India,  for  sure  reagents  against 
poison.  In  Bimbia  the  natives  pro- 
tect themselves  against  poison-water 
by  burying  in  some  remote  valley  of 

*Ib.  225. 
Mb.  129. 
1 7-5.234. 

§  Cruikshank,  241  seqq. 
||  Rosmann,  Guinea,  S.  179. 
IT  Bastian,  135. 


the  interior  a  twig  with  which  they 
mystically  connect  the  duration  of 
their  lives,  hoping  thus  to  have  placed 
the  latter  beyond  the  power  of  any 
fetichman."*  Nor  are  fetiches  them- 
selves secure  against  one  another, 
and  so  quite  naturally  you  will  see  a 
fetich  with  a  number  of  other  fetiches 
attached  to  him,  for  protection.! 

3.   The  Religiosity  of  Fetich    Wor- 
shipers. 

The  fetich  being  possessed  of  such 
powers,  the  bestower  of  so  many 
benefits,  the  defense  against  so  many 
ills,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  savage 
without  delay  to  choose  a  fetich  for 
his  guardian.  Accordingly  the  life  of 
the  new-born  babe  is  immediately 
placed  under  such  tutelage,  and  the 
fetich  thus  chosen  as  guardian  of  the 
infant  watches  over  him  through  life. 
But  the  fetich  will  not  care  for  his 
ward  except  on  condition  that  he  re- 
ceives service  in  return.  He  re- 
quires of  his  charge  submission,  obe- 
dience ;  he  exacts  a  vow,t  and  im- 
poses a  command,  which  his  protege 
is  expected  to  perform  with  all  fidelity. 
So  long  as  he  is  faithfully  served, 
the  fetich  preserves  his  ward  from 
clanger  and  misfortune  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  disobedience  brings 
down  his  wrath,  and  is  surely  punish- 
ed :  "  In  sundry  parts  of  Africa  the 
babe  is  tattooed  on  the  abdomen 
immediately  after  its  birth,  as  a  sign 
of  its  consecration  to  some  fetich."  $ 
"  Within  a  few  days  after  it  is  born 
the  child  is  brought  to  the  Ganga 
(fetich  priest),  who  imposes  on  it  one 
or  more  vows ;  and  the  mother  takes 
care  to  accustom  her  child,  from  its 
earliest  years,  to  the  performance 
of  those  vows,  and  gives  it  such  in- 
struction as  to  their  obligation  as 
will    make    it   easier    in    after  life    to 


*  Ibid.  S 5,  306. 

t  OTdendorp,  I.  324  ff. 

%  For  the  Amer.  Indians,  v.  Charlevoix,  349; 
for  the  Negr.,  Moore,  Travels  into  the  Inland 
Parts  of  Africa,  91 ;  for  the  Siberians,  Georgi's 
Reise,  599  seqq. 

§  Bastian,  77. 


II    I  Ii   M  ISM. 


dis<  harge  them.     In  some  tribes,  how- 

I  his  mystic  union  with  the  Mokis- 

delayed  until  the  critic  al  period 
ol  youth,  that  ol  puberty,  when,  in 
.  the  boy-colonies,  \\  li<  >  then  be- 
gin tn  he  visited  by  the  ideal  dreams 
"i  youth,  retire  into  the  woods,  and 
when  the  Indian  lad  climbs  his 
solitary  tree.      Important  occurrences 

in   one's    life   arc    also   occasions     for 

acknowledging  the  power  ol   the   fe- 
tich."* 

Among  the  American  Indians  a 
youth's  "life-dream"  is  of  high  im- 
ince  for  his  successful  transi- 
tion from  boyhood  to  manhood. 
During  this  dream  he  receives  a  spe- 
cial guardian  spirit,  his  " medicine," 
which  he  ever  after  carries  about  with 
him,  in  the  shape  of  some  animal's 
skin.  The  youth  of  14  or  15  years 
retires  into  solitude  and  there  abstains 
from  all  food  for  a  time,  so  that  he 
may  dream  the  better.  His  dream 
discloses  to  him  his  future  destiny 
and  his  fortunes  through  life:  and 
the  celestial  admonitions  which  are 
thus  conveyed  to  him  direct  his  course 
down  to  the  day  of  his  death. f  Many 
curious  names  owe  their  origin  to 
these  dreams  :  "  Hole  in  the  Sky " 
was  the  name  of  an  Indian  whose 
guardian  spirit  appeared  to  him  in 
an  opening  in  the  heavens. t  It  is 
essential  that  this  guardian  spirit  be 
seen  ;  and  the  fasting  and  dreaming 
must  he  continued  until  some  animal 
makes  its  appearance.  After  the 
dreamer  awakes,  he  tracks  an  animal 
of  the  same  species,  kills  it,  and 
carefully  preserves  the  skin,  or  at 
leasl  that  part  which  was  specially  ob- 
served in  the  dream,  and  this  he 
always  carries  about  with  him.  To 
lose  it  would  earn  for  him  the  ig- 
nominious title  of  "  Man  without  med- 
i(  ine,"  and  bring  upon  him  untold  mis- 
fortunes   in    later    years. §      Families 


and   tribes  Ol    Indians  have   also   their 

guardian  fetich  in  the  shape  of  some 

animal,  as   a    bear,  a    buffalo,  a   hawk. 

an  otter,  etc.,  and  the  Algonquins 
called  this  fetich  the  Totem.*  The 
whole  species  represented  in  the  to- 
tem was  exempt  from  pursuit.  Its 
name  was  adopted  as  that  of  the  clan, 
and  when  an  individual  was  ques- 
tioned as  tO  his  own  name,  he  would 
generally,  with  a  sort  of  family  pride, 
give  that  of  the  totem.  Marriage 
was  not  to  to  be  contracted  between 
those  of  the  same  totem,  just  as  the 
Negroes  of  Aquapim  regard  two  fam- 
ilies whose  fetiches  bear  one  name 
as  related,  and  so  forbidden  to  inter- 
marry, t 

The  vows  taken  in  honor  of  the 
fetich  are  of  course  very  simple,  and 
have     reference     merely    to    external 

j  acts.  As  specimens  of  different  vows 
taken  in  Loango,  Dapper  gives -the 
following,  in  addition  to  a  series  of 
minute  directions  as  to  costume  :  % 
Not  to  eat  such  or  such  flesh,  birds, 
fishes  ;  such  or  such  herbs,  fruits,  etc. : 

I  or  if  one  ate  of  them,  to  do  so  all 
alone  and  afterward  to  bury  the 
bones.  Others  bound  themselves 
never  to  pass  over  water,  even  were  the 
same  in  small  quantity,  or  had  fallen 
in  the  shape  of  rain,  or  had  come 
from  any  other  source.  Others  again 
were  not  to  cross  a  river  in  a  boat 
with  their  shoes  on,  though  they  might 
wade  or  cross  on  the  back  of  an 
animal.  Some  were  required  to  wear 
the  hair  of  the  head  unshorn,  others 
might  cut  off  that  as  well  as  the  beard, 
while  others  still  were  allowed  to  cut 
off  only  the  one  or  the  other.  Some 
were  not  permitted  to  eat  fruits,  while 

I  others  were  required  to  eat  all  they 

I  got,  and  to  refuse  a  share  to  any  one. 


*  Bastian,  254. 

imples  of   such  dreams  in    Kohl, 
Kitchi-Gami,    oder    Erzahlungen   vom    obe- 
reii  See.     Bremen,  1S59. 
{  School*  raft,  II.  160. 

atlin,    Letters  and    Notes   on  the  X.  A. 
Indians,  4th  Ed.   Loud.  1844;  Wait/,  Anthr. 


III.  118;  Charlevoix,  p.  346;  Hist.  Buccan- 
eers of  America.  Lond.  1741,  I.  116;  Lettres 
edifianto.  VI.  17  \. 

•  Wait/.  Anthr.  III.  1 19. 

t  Has.  Mi>s.  Magazine,  1S52.  IV.  327. 

\  Cf.  I  >upuy,  Journ.  of  a  Re-id.  in  Ashantee. 
Lond.  1824, p. 239;  Bosmann, II..66 ;  I'royart, 
195;  Bowdich,  362,  524;  Tuckey,  Narr.  of 
Exped.  to  explore  Riv.  Zaire  in  1S16.  Lond. 
1818,  124.  223. 


FETICHISM. 


39 


no  matter  how  much  they  had.*  The 
Yagas  (a  tribe  of  warlike  African 
savages)  imposed  upon  themselves, 
according  to  Cavazzi,!  strenuous 
practices  of  abstinence,  similar  to 
those  found  among  American  In- 
dians, with  a  view  to  render  them- 
selves the  worthy  champions  of  the 
sacred  Quixilles;  and  they  thought 
that  they  entered  the  strife  in  earnest 
only  after  the  first  captive  had  been 
put'  to  death  as  an  atonement  for 
the  sins  of  the  tribe.  The  sanctity 
of  the  royal  palace  was  so  rigidly 
maintained  among  them,  that  when 
once  a  baptized  infant  was  by  its 
mother  brought  within  the  enclosure, 
the  chief  ordered  the  palace  to  be  torn 
down,  burnt,  and  leveled  with  the 
ground,  for  such  a  profanation  necessi- 
tated the  erection  of  a  new  one.  The 
flesh  of  swine,  elephants  and  snakes 
was  forbidden  to  the  Yagas,  and  they 
would  no  more  touch  it  than  would 
the  Australian  touch  the  flesh  of  his 
kobong.  Unfavorable  seasons  were 
ascribed  to  the  indignation  of  the 
gods  on  account  of  the  people's  sins. 
Thus  these  savages,  who  sucked  the 
brains  out  of  the  heads  of  their  liv- 
ing foes,  and  who,  by  public  licentious- 
ness, cannibalism  and  infanticide, 
violated  every  article  of  the  moral 
code,  even  they  had  an  ideal  which 
they  called  Virtue. t  When  on  the 
Gold  Coast  the  members  of  a  family 
separate  from  one  another,  and  they 
can  no  longer  worship  in  common  the 
family  fetich,  then  the  priest  destroys 
the  latter  and  prepares  from  it  a 
draught,  to  be  taken  by  them  :  and  so 
the  fetich  enters  their  bodies.  At  the 
same  time  certain  prohibitions  as  to 
food  are  enjoined,  the  observance  of 
which  is  a  religious  duty.§ 

Thus  each  savage  has  his  special 
guardian  fetich  and  his  own  peculiar 
vows  ;  thus,  too,  each  has  a  religious 
belief   peculiar    to   himself,    and    the 


*  Bastian,  253. 

t  lb.  205  ff;  Cavazzi,  Relat.  histor.  de 
l'Ethiop.  occid.,  trad.  d.  l'ltal.  par  le  P. 
Labat.     Paris,  1732. 

%  Bastian,  205  ff. ;  Cavazzi,  itbi  supra. 

§  Cruikshank,  220. 


principles  governing  his  conduct  in 
sundry  contingencies  are  the  reverse 
of  those  held  by  his  neighbors.  Con- 
sequently he  must  regard  his  neigh- 
bor's conduct  as  smacking  of  heresy, 
and  his  neighbor's  person  as  a  thing 
unclean.  "  The  diversity  of  Mokissos 
made  it  necessary  in  the  great  cara- 
vanserai in  the  market-place  of  Lo- 
ango  that  each  person  should  bring 
his  own  cup  from  which  to  drink  the 
palm-wine,  so  as  not  to  be  exposed  to 
the  danger  of  drinking  unawares  out 
of  a  heterodox  cup."  * 

"  In  what  manner  soever  the  Mok- 
isso  has  been  selected,  the  whole  after 
life  of  his  worshiper  is  bound  up  in 
him.  This  is  the  source  of  all  true 
contentment  for  the  savage,  and  here 
he  finds  the  solution  of  all  those  anx- 
ious questions  which  arise  in  his  mind 
no  less  than  in  that  of  other  men,  who 
would  be  but  ill  content,  however,  with 
the  very  simple  solution  accepted  by  the 
Negro.  The  vow  he  has  undertaken 
is  for  him  the  sum  total  of  religion. 
So  long  as  things  go  pleasantly  for 
him,  he  is  happy  and  contented  under 
the  guardianship  of  his  Mokisso ;  he 
feels  strong  in  the  assurance  of  divine 
approval ;  ascribes  to  the  divine  com- 
placency, his  days  of  sunshine ;  in- 
deed his  judgment  is  strictly  con- 
trolled by  his  wishes  and  desires. 
But  if  unintentionally  or  involuntarily 
he  breaks  his  vow,  the  whole  course  of 
providence  in  his  regard  is  at  once 
and  irrevocably  altered.  Then  mis- 
fortune overtakes  him  ;  he  is  quickly 
overwhelmed  with  calamities,  and  his 
only  escape  lies  through  death  and 
oblivion  ;  for  him  there  is  no  hope,  no 
path  leading  to  reconciliation  and  de- 
liverance. The  luckless  wretch  need 
not.  in  Africa  at  least,  go  far  in  search 
of  death.  The  fiends  who  surround 
him,  in  the  shape  of  fellow-men. 
quickly  trample  him  to  death,  and  with 
the  last  breath  of  the  fetich-worshiper 
expires  a  System  of  the  Universe,  in 
smallest  12  mo.  With  the  man  per- 
ishes the  god  he  himself  made,  and 
both  go  back  into  the  night  of  Noth- 

*  Bastian,  25S. 


10 


I    I     I   I'    ll|s\|. 


ingness.  Here,  too,  is  shown  the 
mighi  of  inexorable  Fate.  The  de- 
made  the  Mokisso  what  it  was  : 
hut  the  Mokisso  was  bound  to  avenge 
the  infraction  of  his  commands ;  he 
annihilates  his  worshiper,  and  with 
him  annihilates  himseli 

Bui  let  us  suppose  thai  the  s.i\  ago 
observes  his  vow.  "  By  studying  the 
Negro  when  swelling  with  pride  at  his 
good  fortune,  we  can  get  an  insight 
into  many  oilier  features  of  this  kin  i 
•rship.  II is  gi >< "I  Genius  makes 
him  overweening  oi  himself,  and  he 

looks  down  upon  his  fellows  with  dis- 
dain: but  he  may  attain  a  still  more 
exalted  degree  of  eminence,  when  l>y 
his  virtues  he  attracts  to  his  service 
still  other  Mokissos.  With  this  view 
he  assumes  new  vows,  and  enters  into 
covenants  with  one  Mokisso  after 
another.  His  faith  increases  his 
courage  and  audacity,  and  fortem  for- 
tunes adjuvat.  But  now  his  role  be- 
COmes  hazardous,  as  it  is  difficult  to 
perform  the  numerous  vows  he  has 
taken  ;  "  t  soon  it  will  he  quite  im- 
possible. But  if  he  omits  any,  he  of- 
fends and  enrages  the  slighted  fe- 
s.  and  the  upshot  of  the  matter 
will  be,  that  he  must  follow  the  course 
we  have  already  described. 

The  greater  the  number  of  the 
fetit  lies  to  which  a  savage  is  devoted, 
and  the  greater  the  number  of  his 
vows,  the  more  will  his  time  be  oc- 
cupied in  paying  them  reverence. 
Thus  only  freemen,  the  rich  and  the 
i  ful  can  afford  to  have  many 
fetiches  or  to  bind  themselves  by 
many  obligations.  The  slave  must 
bestow  all  his  time  and  attention 
in  his  master's  service,  and  the  poor 
are  sufficiently  occupied  in  procuring 
a  livelihood,  neither  of  them  have 
leisure  for  anything  beyond  the  sim- 
•  devotions.  The  higher,  there- 
fore,   a    Negro's    rank,    the  more  fe- 

ti(  lies  he  will  possess,   the    mole  VOWS 

he  will  have  to  observe,  and  the  more 
difficult  will  it  be  for  him  to  live 
without   offense.      Koiuer  fell   in  with 


*  Bastian,  254,  55. 
t  /A.  256. 


1     Negro   who    owned    nearly    20,000 

tt'tii  hes,  man)  ol  whi<  h,  however,  he 
kept    merely   bee  ause   they   had   be- 

d        to        his       .UK  estnis.*  ••    |  |lr 

princes    ol     Loango   rei  eive   several 
years'    s<  hooling    in    a    compli< 
form  oi  fetich-worship,  assuming  new 
vows   toi    e.u  h  degree  ol    initiation  ; 

and  thus  only  are  they  qualified  to 
rank     among    the    Eligible    Princes, 

who  alone  can  ascend  the  throne. 
When  an  adult  person  is  to  adopt 
a  new  Mokisso,  the  Ganga  is  not 
governed  by  his  own  private  inspira- 
tion, as  he  is  when  he  imposes  a  VOW 
on  the  new-born  infant;  but  he  puts 
himself  in  sympathetic  rapport  with 
the  postulant,  and  hearkens  to  the 
words  spoken  by  the  latter  in  an 
ecstasy  ;  and  these  words  determine 
his  choice."!  Nor  is  this  of  little 
importance  for  the  postulant  and  Ins 
future  happiness.  The  Ganga  might 
impose  on  him  a  vow  entirely  un<  on- 
genial  to  his  tastes  and  inclinations. 
In  that  case,  he  would  soon  trans- 
gress against  his  obligations,  and 
incur  guilt.  But  the  adult  postulant 
has  a  well-defined  character  (if  we 
may  so  speak  of  a  savage)  and  the 
Ganga  adapts  to  this  the  new  fetich 
and  the  new  vow,  thus  securim;  a 
good  understanding  between  the  fe- 
tich and  the  devotee,  and  insuring  the 
happiness  of  the  latter.  Further- 
more, "  in  the  fact  that  the  Ganga, 
in  selecting  a  Mokisso  for  the  new- 
born infant,  takes  into  account  the 
character  of  its  parents'  Mokisso,  and 

seeks     tO    establish    between     the    two 

a  sort  of  organic  connection,  we  see 
the  earliest  effort  toward  a  system 
nans,  ending  the  individual."  t  Tin- 
power  of  the  savage  increases  in 
proportion  10  the  number  of  vows 
lie  faithfully  performs,  and  of  the 
fetiches  who  give  him  protection  and 
Strength.  "Whenever  the  Ruling 
I  [i  mse  succei  d,  by  means  of  their 
fetiches,  in  establishing  a  strict  line 
of  separation  between  themselves  and 
the  rest  of  the  tribe,  they  soon  assume 

*  Romer,  <  ruinea,  S.  62. 

t  Bastian,  S.  257. 

}  lb.  65. 


FETICH  ISM. 


41 


die  most  unlimited  prerogatives.  A 
prince  of  the  blood  may  then  at 
•will  enslave  and  sell  an  inferior, 
whenever  he  is  in  want  of  money."  * 
"  In  the  king  of  Loango,  as  being 
the  personification  of  supreme  human 
felicity,  resides  the  most  unlimited 
authority  over  the  Mokissos,  which 
are  themselves  the  very  expression 
of  unbounded  Might.  It  is  his  will 
that  causes  the  sun  to  shine  ;  by  his 
command  vegetation  proceeds ;  a 
word  from  him  were  sufficient  to 
annihilate  the  universe."  t  On  the 
White  Nile,  as  also  in  Benin  and 
in  Dahomey,  a  like  opinion  prevails.^ 
For  this  reason  certain  exceptionally 
powerful  fetiches,  the  Sea,  for  in- 
stance, are  reserved  for  those  who 
govern.  "The  king  of  Quinsembo 
has  his  palace,  or  Banza,  some  three 
miles  inland,  on  the  bank  of  the  riyer 
•Quinsembo,  back  of  a  line  of  sand- 
hills, and  he  never  passes  beyond 
that  line  of  hills  seaward,  lest'  the 
•sea  should  come  within  the  range 
of  his  vision,  and  he  should  see  it. 
Were  he  to  behold  the  sea,  the 
consequence  would  be  his  death,  and 
the  destruction  of  the  kingdom,  as 
he  is  forbidden  by  the  fetich  to  look 
upon  the  sea.  Many  other  kings 
along  the  coast  are  similarly  re- 
stricted, while  others  will  eat  only 
the  products  of  their  native  soil,  and 
•eschew  all  foreign  articles  of  luxury 
in  their  attire."  § 

The  savage  puts  fetters  upon  him- 
self, in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
vows  he  undertakes.  Thus,  the 
greater  his  power,  as  the  owner  of 
many  fetiches,  the  more  numerous 
the  restrictions  put  upon  his  liberty  ; 
and  so  the  very  fact  that  he  holds 
unlimited  power  curiously  enough 
proves  in  the  end  his  destruction. 
The  dignity  of  kingship,  for  instance, 
involves  the  service  of  many  fetiches 
and  the  performance  of  many  vows. 


*  Ibid.  256. 

t  Ibid.  256;  Proyart,  120;  Brun-Rollet,  in 
Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  geogr.  1S52,  II.  422. 

%  Palisot-Beauvais  apud  Labarthe,  Voy. 
a  la  Cote  de  Guinee,  1803,  p.  137  (tier- 
man  tr.). 

§  Bastian,  33. 


Should  the  king  prove  unfaithful,  he 
brings  disaster  upon  himself  and 
upon  his  kingdom.  In  Congo  if  the 
king's  white  fez  fell  off  his  head,  the 
accident  foreboded  evil  to  the  state, 
just  as  the  Japanese  Dairi,  should 
he  happen  toy  a  shake  of  the  head  to 
alter  in  any  way  the  position  of  his 
royal  crown,  would  thereby  alter  the 
heavenly  course  of  the  sun,  whose 
representative  he  was.  Accordingly, 
all  watch  with  the  eyes  of  Argus,  to 
see  that  the  ruler  discharges  his 
vows.  Wo  to  him  if  he  be  negligent ! 
Then  those  over  whom  the  despot 
once  tyrannized  would  in  turn  be- 
come his  tyrants.  Of  him  may  be 
said  what  Bastian  affirms  with  regard 
to  the  entire  Negro  race  :  "  No  mag- 
istrate can  by  his  prohibitions  restrict 
him  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite 
enjoyments  ;  but  he  will  voluntarily 
take  upon  himself  the  shackles  of  his 
fetich.  No  tyrannical  despot  may 
prescribe  a  code  of  laws  to  govern 
his  conduct.  He  makes  his  home 
wherever  he  pleases,  and  does  as  he 
likes,  provided  only  he  does  not 
transgress  the  bounds  set  by  tradi- 
tion, or  depart  from  the  customs 
handed  down  from  his  own  ancestors. 
But  hie  hceret  aqua:  for  these  cus- 
toms surround  him  like  a  system  of 
intricate  snares,  which  it  is  not  easy 
to  escape.  The  slightest  offense, 
when  proved  against  him  in  a  Pa- 
laver, is  sufficient  ground  for  irrevo- 
cably adjudging  himself,  his  family 
and  all  his  goods  confiscated  to  the 
king ;  and  the  latter  will  have  no 
scruple  in  selling  him  as  a  slave  to 
the  first  trader  that  comes  that  way."  ' 
On  the  White  Nile,  when  the  rain 
fails,  the  king  is  put  to  death. t 
Among  the  Banyars,  too,  the  king, 
who  is  also  the  high-priest — i.e., 
chief  conjurer — is  held  accountable 
for  national  calamities  ;  yet  he  does 
not  pay  the  penalty  with  his  life, 
escaping  with  a  sound  pommeling. t 

*  Bastian,  64. 

t  Proyart:  Brun-Rollet,  ubi sttpr. 

t  Hecquard,  Keise  au  die  Kiiste  unci  in 
das  Innere  von  W.  Afrika.  Leipz.  1S54,  S. 
78  ;  Wait/,  Anthr.  II.  129. 


I  III*    1 1  ISM. 


In  this  slavish  obedience  of  the  sav- 
age i"  his  fetich  we  ma)  recognize  an 
important  educational  element.  The 
savage  imposes  duties  on  himself — he 
curbs  his  passions.  Herein  h< 
nounces,  to  .1  very  slight  degree, 'tis 
true,  his  natural  willfulness.  I  lis  mo- 
tive is  no  doubt  selfishness.  With  a 
view  to  power,  he  lays  upon  him- 
self the  burden  of  obligations.  Ye\ 
it  is  a  selfishness  that  is  under  re- 
straint. 

4.  Worship  and  Sacrifice. 

Such  being  the  power  of  the  fetich, 
whose  good-will  brings  prosperity,  but 

whose  wrath  is  fatal,  the  chief  study 
of  the  savage  must  be  to  propitiate 
him,  to  gain  his  favor  and  to  avoid 
his  anger.  Now  the  savage  can  pay 
to  his  fetich  only  such  homage  as  he 
is  wont  to  render  to  those  who  claim 
his  respect  and  submission.  He 
shows  obedience  to  his  fetich,  by  per- 
forming his  vow.  He  resorts  to  flat- 
tery, prayers,  gifts  :  in  other  words, 
he  adores  his  fetich,  and  offers  to  him 
sacrifice. 

A  man  offers  prayer  and  sacrifice, 
either  in  order  to  obtain  the  blessings 
of  prosperity,  or  in  thanksgiving  for 
benefits  received.  The  desire  of  a 
tranquil  life  is  the  direct  expression 
of  man's  natural  instinct  of  self-pres- 
ervation. This  instinct  remains  un- 
«  hanged,  whatever  may  be  his  grade- 
in  point  of  development  and  whatever 
may  be  the  means  which  he  chooses 
for  the  attainment  of  tranquillity.  All 
men  desire  "  np6rreivi  if  not  in  this 
world,  at  least  in  the  world  to 
come.  Knowledge,  however,  varies 
and  grows.  With  the  advance  of 
knowledge,  the  objects  which  in  a  ruder 
age  wen-  worshiped  as  conferring  the 
vrreiiv  are  changed  for  others. 
Heme  the  objects  of  worship  in  the 
different  degrees  of  mental  develop- 
ment vary  widely  :  thus  we  have  fe- 
tiches, the  stars,  gods,  etc.;  and  yet 
the  expression  of  the  natural  desire  of 
prosperity  is  ever  the  same,  viz., 
prayer  and  sacrifice,  though  in  out- 
ward  form  there   may   be  wide   diver- 


sity, according  to   the  degree  of   intel- 

ial  ami  moral  culture. 

The  savage  paysworship  to  his  fe- 

ti<  hes.     The  Negroes  testified  their  re- 

for  tin'  am  hor.     The  <  >stiaks  do 

honor    to    illustrious     mountains     and 

trees  by  shooting  an  arrow  at  them  as 
they  pass  by.     The  Daurians  planted 

rough  posts  in  the  center  ol  their  huts, 
winding   around  them  the  intestines  ol 
animals,  and  the  occupants  of  the  hut 
never  passed  by  the  fetich  without  a 
prostration   and  a  prayer.*     The  Cir- 
cassians slay  a  goat    at   the  grave  of  a 
dead     kinsman,   consume     the    flesh, 
hang  the  skin  on  a  stake,  and  make  it 
an  object  of  worship.!     The  offerings 
made  to  the   fetich  are  often    of  very 
trifling  value,  being  proportioned  to  the 
wealth  of  the  devotee.     Thus  the  Ne- 
groes   and     the   early    Peruvians,    as 
also   other   American     natives, %    and 
the  Siberians  §  seldom  offer  anything 
but    potsherds,    worthless     rags,    and 
worn-out   boots  and   shoes.     The  (  >s- 
tiaks    clothe    in    silk     their    fetiches, 
which  are   marie  to  resemble  the   hu- 
man form,  and  to  one  side  of  the  head 
they  attach   a   bunch    of  hair,   to   the 
other  adish,  into  which  they  every  day 
pour  broth,    which    then   flows    down 
either  side  of  the  idol.||     As  a  sign  of 
their  gratitude,  the  natives  of  Cabende 
eject  from  their  mouths  upon  the  fe- 
tich the  first  morsel  of  food  they  take 
at  a  meal,  having  first  chewed  it  :  and 
the  idol  is   left   unwashed   and  in   this 
pitiable  state   until    the  meal  is    at  an 
end. IT     Many    fetiches   have  also   lo- 
calities   specially    assigned    to  them. 
where  they  receive  offerings,  and  we 
find   fetich   altars   of  various  descrip- 
tions. 

Offerings  are  made  to  the  fetiches 
with  a  view  to  obtain  benefits  from 
them.  Thus  the  Negroes  offer  to  their 
fetiches    empty  jugs  when   they  wish 


•  Voy.  au  Nord.  VIII.  103. 

t  lb.  X.  447.  [sbrand  affirms  the  same  as 
tn  the  Burats.  Voy.  au  Nord.  VIII.  64. 

JAcosta,  Hist,  natur.  et  mor.  des  Indes. 
occidentaks.  Paris,  if>o6,  p.  206,  227  ;  Char- 
levoix,  vt^- 

$  Georgi,  Kuss.  Volk.  S.  389. 
[sbrand,  Voy.  au  Nord.  VII.  38. 

•  Itastian,  Si.      ('/.  Halleur,  32. 


FETICH  ISM. 


43 


for  rain  ;  swords  or  daggers  when 
they  are  going  to  war ;  fish-bones 
when  they  are  bound  on  a  fishing-ex- 
pedition ;  small  shears  or  knives  when 
they  desire  store  of  palm-wine.*  The 
savage  is  most  liberal  of  his  homage 
and  of  his  gifts  when  he  is  in  straits, 
but  often  times  the  fetich  is  utterly 
neglected  in  time  of  prosperity,  f 
Finally,  offering  is  made  to  the  fetich, 
in  thanksgiving  for  benefits  received, 
after  a  successful  fishing-expedition 
or  warlike  foray ;  after  a  prosperous 
chase  or  harvest ;  after  the  birth  of  a 
child  ;  after  recovery  from  sickness, 
and  escape  from  danger.! 

Animals  and  even  human  beings  § 
are  offered  to  the  fetiches.  On  per- 
ilous routes  and  rivers  the  American 
Indians  make  offerings  of  birds  or 
of  dogs,  sometimes  binding  the  legs 
of  the  latter  together,  and  leaving 
them  suspended  from  a  tree  to  meet 
their  fate.  ||  To  such  fetiches  as 
bears  or  deer  they  offer  maize  ;  and 
to  a  maize-fetich  they  offer  bears' 
flesh. H  "  In  Bonny  the  most  beautiful 
maiden  is  annually  offered  to  Ihu-Ihu, 
or  Yoo-Yoo** — a  name  denoting 
priest,  temple,  or  place  of  sacrifice,  as 
well  as  any  guardian  deity.  Probably 
it  here  stands  for  the  Sea,  to  which  an 
offering  is  ever  made  on  a  fixed  day. 
The  maid  chosen  to  be  offered  to 
the  god  has  her  every  wish  grat- 
ified, and  whatsoever  she  touches 
becomes  her  property. ft  The  priest 
who  performs  the  human  sacrifices, 
bites  a  piece  out  of  the  neck  of  the 
victim,  while  life-still  remains.  When 
captives  are  sacrificed,  their  heads  are 

*G.  Lover,  Relat.  du  Voy.  du  Royaume 
d'Issiny.  Par.  17 14,  p.  248. 

t  Charlevoix,  347  :  Bosmann,  445. 

I  De  Bry,  VI.  20  ;  Lover,  24S  ;  Charlevoix, 
348;  Georgi,  389;  Yalentyn,  Oud  en  Nieuw- 
oost  Indien.     Amsterdam,  1724,111,10. 

§  Charlevoix,  118  ;  Georgi,  338  ;  Valentvn, 
III.  10. 

||  Charlevoix,  118,  34S.    Cf.  Wait/,  II.  207. 

T  Loskiel,  Gesch.  der  Mission  der  evangel. 
Briider  unter  den  Indian,  in  X.  Amerika. 
Barby,  17S9,  S.  53. 

**  Holman,  Vovage  round  the  World  (1827- 
32).     Lond.  1834',  I.  378. 

tt  J.  Smith,  Trade  and  Travels  in  the  Gulf 
of  Guinea.    London,  1S51,  p.  60,  68. 


arranged  in  a  row  in  front  of  the 
Yoo-Yoo  house,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  bodies  are  cut  up,  boiled  in 
a  cauldron  and  eaten.*  The  Kroos 
also  occasionally  sacrifice  prisoners 
of  war  to  their  fetich-tree. t  "  They 
have  many  festivals  whereon  sacri- 
fice is  offered  to  the  fetiches.  Even 
(Jays  become  fetiches  for  them,  some 
being  regarded  as  lucky,  others  as 
unlucky.  In  Ashantee  there  are  but 
150  or  160  lucky  days  in  the  whole 
year,  when  an  enterprise  of  moment 
may  be  commenced  with  any  hope  of 
success.  %  On  the  Senegal  Tuesday 
and  Sunday  are  dies  atri,  but  Friday 
is  a  still  more  unlucky  day,  and  hence 
a  certain  Bambarra  king  had  all 
children  born  to  him  on  a  Friday  put 
to  death. § 

As  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  fe- 
tiches their  worshipers  build  houses 
J  to  shelter  them,  temples.  The  YVoti- 
:  aks  ||  and  the  Ostiaks  IT  build  for  this 
purpose  miserable  huts,  but  the  Ab- 
ipones**  and  the  Negroes  affect  some 
small  regard  for  ornament.  Bastian 
gives  the  following  description  of  an  Af- 
rican fetich-house  :  "  The  temple  was 
quadrangular,  constructed  of  straw 
matting,  the  entire  front  being  of 
wooden  framework,  with  three  arched 
doorways.  Each  of  the  two  side-door- 
ways was  surmounted  by  a  pyramid, 
while  over  the  middle  one  rose  a  cu- 
pola ;  and  the  door-posts  were  adorned 
with  figures  in  black  and  green.  With- 
in was  a  simple  mound  of  earth, 
on  which  stood  three  forked  sticks 
painted    red   and  white    in   alternate 

stripes."ft 

The  Yoo-Yoo  house  in  Bonny  is  40 
feet  in  length  and  30  in  width.  At 
one  end  stands  an  altar  3  feet  high, 
and  a  small  table  with  a  vessel  hold- 
ing tombo,  a  kind  of  spirituous  drink. 


•  Ibid.    p.  82. 

f  Waitz,  Anthr.   II,  197  seq. 

\  Bowdich,  p.  363  seq.;  Dupuy,  213  note. 

§  kaffenel,   p.     183  ;    Mungo    Park,    Sec. 
Journev   (in     Puttier's   translation).        Nord- 
hausen,  1821.  S.  315.     Cf  Wait/,  II.  201. 
Rytschkow,  Tagebuch,  S.  166. 

•  Voy.  au  Nord.  VIII.  103. 
**  Dobrizhofer,  II.  99. 

•  t  Hastian,  50. 


1  I.I  It   HISM. 


There  is  abundance  of  wine  and  rum   thin   himself:  like  his  worshiper,  the 
s   .Hid    flagons,  ami   on  the   fetich  is  a  savage,  and  on  occasion  is 

-  hang  pit  represent-   i"  be  I  is  a  mere  savage.     So, 

ing  the  (iu. in. i  lizard.     The  foreigner   if  despite  prayers  and  gifts  he  refuses 

litedon  by  a  priest  ;  for  in  Bonny  to  grant  what  is  asked  of  him,  then  he 

ngers  have  ready  access  to  the  is  to  be  handled  roughly  till  he  yield 
temple,  whereas  elsewhere  he  is  ex-  to  force  what  he  denies  to  entreaty. 
eluded.  The  priestly  attendant  nun-  We  have  already  seen  how  the  fetich 
ins  a  few  unintelligible  words,  makes  is  pommeled  in  order  to  make  him  at- 
a  mark  with  moist  clay  between  the  tend  seriously  to  his  business.*  If 
visitor's  eye-brows,  and  rings  a  bell,   the  Ostiaks  are  uns  il   in  the 

\  glass  of  tombo  is  then    handed  to  chase  or  in  fishing,  they  inflict  severe 
the  stranger,  and   thus  he  is  admitted    chastisement  on  their  fetiches  for  hav- 

the      mysteries,  and    initiated  i  them  away  from  the  game,  or 

These  fetich-houses  are  in  many  parts    for  having  failed  to  render  assistance. 

Africa,  asylums,  especially  for  run-  The  punishment  over,  they  become 
away  slaves ;  t  and  in  the  medicine-  reconciled  again  with  the  unfortunate 
huts  of  the  American  Indians  even  an  culprits,  give  them  a  new  suit  of 
enemy's  life  is  safe.}  clothes  and   other  gifts,  in   the  hope 

Having  done  due  honor  to  his  fe-  that  they  will  now  do  better.  During 
tich  and  made  to  him  such  offerings  as  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic  the  na- 
his  means  allowed,  the  savage  counts  fives  of  KakongO  entreated  the  fe- 
with  certainty  on  a  return.  For  though  tidies  for  relief ;  but  as  the  pestilence 
he  stands  in  great  awe  of  his  fetich,  continued,  they  threw  their  fetiches 
still  the  relation  between  the  two  is  into  the  tire.t  The  same  was  done 
not  such  as  to  make  the  devotee  in  all  by  a  Lapp  who  had  in  vain  prayed  to 
cases  the  bounden  slave  of  the  object  his  fetich  to  perserve  his  reindeers 
he  worships  ;  nor  is  the   fetich,  when   from  disease. $ 

the  worst   comes,  the   superior  of  the  |      As  the  savage   renounces   fetiches 

which    prove    of    no    account,    so   he 


man.  The  savage  is  too  wild  and 
onate  to  submit  to  such  absolute 
control  :  and  the  moral  chai 
which  he  attributes  to  his  divinity  is 
not  such  as  to  make  the  latter  a  para- 
mount Destiny.  A  man's  apprehen- 
sion of  another  being  cannot  tran- 
scend the  sum  total  of  his  actual  con- 
ceptions. He  cannot  conceive  of  a 
a  .is  possessed  of  attributes  of 
which  he  has  never  formed  any  no- 
tion. Consequently  tli  i's  fe- 
tich will  be  what  the  savage  is  himself. 
;he  savage  is  given  to  falsehood 
and  treachery  ;  lie  is  usually  cruel, 
li  and  wayward.  From  what  he 
is  himself  he  judges  of  human  nature, 
and  these  same  data  make  up  his  con- 
ception of  the  fetich.  From  a  moral 
point  of  view   the  fetich    is  no  better 


*  J.  Smith,  p.  6o. 

t  Bowdich,  p.  361  :  Monrad,  44. 

}  Mi  <  <>y,  lli-t.  Baptist  In, I.  Missions. 
Washington,  1S40,  p.  195:  Perrin  du  Lac, 
in  die  beiden  Louisianen  (1601-3). 
Leipz.  1807,  I.  171. 


strives  to  get  possession  of  those 
whose  power  is  known.  The  fetich 
thus  becomes  an  article  of  commerce 
and  barter:  and  numerous  instances 
might  be  cited  of  such  articles  being 
sold,  exchanged,  or  even  stolen. £  It 
is  chiefly  the  priests  that  carry  on  this 
traffic :  ||  and  both  in  Africa  and  in 
America  the  price  of  valuable  fetiches 
is  very  high  ;  indeed  their  owners  are 
rarely  willing  to  part  with  them  at  any 
price. If 


*  The   Cingalese  have   the   same  custom- 
nox,  I  listor.  Relation  of  the  1. 1  ; 
Ion.     Lond.    t68i,    ]>.  83.     Al-<>    the    Mada- 
it.  I  list,  de   la  grande  I.  de 
iscar,  1658,  p.  [81  ;  the  Easter  Island- 
.  the   <  istiaks,  Voy.   au    X. 
VIII.  11  v 
I  Proyart,  310. 

J  Hoystrom,  S.   319.   Cf.  YYaitz,  Anthr.  II. 
185. 

$  Bosmann,  S.  99;  Atkins,  Voy.  to  Guinea, 
Brazil    and    the    W.   Indies.     Lond.   1737,   p. 
104;  Charlevoix,  p.  347.  Cf.  Waitz,  ulu  supra. 
•Mowing  section. 

Wait/,   III.  214. 


FETICHISM. 


45 


5.  Fetich  Priesthoods. 

Starting  from  small  beginnings,  but 
gaining  strength  as  it  advances,  fetich- 
ism  at  last  extends  its  influence  over 
the  whole  life  of  the  savage.  We 
have  soon  no  end  of  fetiches  and  fe- 
tich usages,  the  knowledge  and  under- 
standing (if  which  requires  study,  and 
can  be  acquired  onlv  by  the  initiated 
and  those  who  devote  their  lives  to 
this  special  branch  of  learning.  The 
mere  layman  is  quite  inadequate  to 
treat  of  so  complicated  a  subject  with- 
out making  fatal  errors.  Onlv  wise 
men  are  competent  to  expound  so  ab- 
struse a  science.  The  man  who  knows 
all  the  fetiches  and  the  entire  ritual, 
is  by  this  very  knowledge  distin- 
guished from  the  profane  and  igno- 
rant multitude  he  is  an  eminent  and 
reverend  personage,  as  being  master 
of  many  recondite  arts  all  unknown  to 
the  generality.  Thus  if  we  take  into 
account  the  low  intellectual  status  of 
the  savage,  we  shall  see  that  those 
possessed  of  this  mystic  science  will 
necessarilv  come  to  be  regarded  as 
priests,  magicians,  medicine-men,  etc., 
or  in  short  fetichmen — for  all  these 
terms  have  that  one  signification.  The 
fetichman's  importance  and  dignity 
are  the  natural  corollary  of  the  sys- 
tem to  which  he  belongs. 

The  feticeros  are  sages.  They  un- 
derstand the  entire  system,  and  are 
familiar  with  all  the  fetiches  and  the 
mode  of  preparing  them ,  their  re- 
spective powers  and  their  names.  In 
America  it  is  the  Jongleurs*  (con- 
jurers) in  Siberia,  the  Shamans ,  f 
in  Africa,  the  Gangas  %  (different  titles 
for  fetichmen)  that  supply  all' the  fe- 
tiches. That  the  trade  in  fetiches  is 
remunerative  we  may  judge  from  the 
fact  that  each  Indian  village  has 
twenty  or  more  fetichmen  and  women 
who  thence  get  a  living.  In  Africa, 
too,  this  trade  yields  a  fair  income. § 

The    fetichmen    are    also    familiar 


*  Charlevoix,  p.  346 ;  Lettres  edif.  VI.  174. 

t  Georgi,  S.  3S4. 

\  Des  Marchais,  I.  296. 

§  Waitz.  II.  196,  III.  213. 


with  the  ceremonies  to  be  used  in 
order  that  the  fetich  may  be  induced 
to  exert  his  full  power.  They  "  know 
all  the  potent  formulas  for  blessing 
the  elements."*  The  safest  course 
to  pursue,  therefore,  is  to  have  the  fet- 
iceros themselves  apply  the  fetich. 
Hence,  the  priest's  influence  is  coex- 
tensive with  that  of  the  fetich.  In  as- 
signing powerful  fetiches  for  the  cure 
of  disease,  and  in  applying  these,  he 
acts  the  part  of  a  physician.  When 
by  his  fetiches  he  constrains  thieves, 
the  winds,  the  clouds,  spirits,  etc.,  to 
do  his  bidding,  he  becomes  a  conjur- 
er, or  magician.  Finally,  inasmuch 
as  he  has  special  control  over  religious 
rites  and  sacrifices,  and  thus  comes 
into  close  relations  with  the  fetiches, 
he  is  strictly  a  priest.  Yet  at  bottom 
all  these  functions  are  identical  and 
are  all  implied  in  the  one  title  of  fe- 
tichman.  The  distinction,  therefore, 
sometimes  made  between  the  fetich- 
priest  and  the  conjurer  is  merelv  a 
relative  one,  as  Bastian  has  well  ob- 
served.t  Hence  among  some  incon- 
siderable Eskimo  tribes  a  single 
priest  will  combine  in  his  own  person 
the  various  functions  of  the  feticero, 
being  at  once  physician,  conjurer  and 
priest ,  while  under  other  conditions, 
a  division  of  labor  takes  place,  deter- 
mined by  chance  or  bv  inclination. 
Thus  in  Negro  tribes  one  fetichman 
devotes  himself  to  the  medicine-fe- 
tiches, and  is  a  physician  ,  another 
professes  the  art  of  rain-making,  or 
some  other  branch  of  conjuring ;  a 
third  is  devoted  chiefly  to  the  ceremo- 
nies of  religion.  In  North  America 
the  Jongleurs  give  counsel  as  to  the 
manner  of  appeasing  the  fetiches  or 
gaining  their  good-will,  but  do  not 
offer  sacrifice.  This  function  is  dis- 
charged by  the  chief  on  behalf  of  the 
tribe,  and  by  the  father  on  behalf  of 
the  family. %  The  same  is  stated  as 
to  the  Tcheremissians  and  other  Tar- 
tar tribes. §     On  the  other    hand,  in 


*  Bastian,  85. 
t  Ibid. 

{Charlevoix,  Journ.  Hist.   d'un.  Voy.   de 
['Am.  Sept.  p.  364. 

§  Rytschkow,  S.  92,  93. 


II    ll«    lll.x.M. 


sundry  tribes  of  Siberians,*   Kirghist 
ami  N  tin.'  (  onjurers  ofifei  sa< 

l'!u-  (  '.dim  ks  >  .iiid  in.u 

tribes  ret  ognize  a  distim  tion 
between  conjurers  and  priests,  while 
in  some  African  and  American  tribes  " 
the  conjurers  assume  all  the  functions 
of  priests,  and  vice  versa. 

all  the  feticeros,  those  who  are 
priests  are  usually  held  in  the  highest 
[deration.  "  Among  the  Vagas 
the  Gangas  have  precedence  of  the 
gilli,  or  Rain-makers,  and  it  is 
their  duty,  when  a  warlike  expedition 
is  to  set  out,  to  paint  the  Grand  Yaga 
red  and  white,  as  he  awaits  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Mokisso,  and  to  hand  him 
his  battle-ax,  after  lie  has  banqueted  off 
the  body  of  an  infant  slain  in  sacrifice. 
When  victory  is  proclaimed  the  Gan- 
gas obtain  the  trophies  of  the  fallen 
enemy.  At  the  period  of  the  New 
Moon  they  offer  the  five-fold  sacri- 
fice, when,  after  the  sacrificial  fire 
has  been  sprinkled  with  the  blood, 
the  whole  tribe  join  in  a  boisterous 
feast  the  victims'  bones  being  carefully 
preserved  for  magical  purposes  :  as  is 
also  the  custom  among  the  Tohungas 
of  New  Zealand.  The  Gangas  have 
also  to  guard  from  profanation  the 
Quilumbos,  into  the  inner  recesses  of 
which  no  woman  is  ever  admitted , 
and  to  expose  in  the  woods  the  new- 
born children,  as  the  army,  like  the 
corps  of  Mamelukes,  is  made  up  only 
of  young  slaves."  **  Cavazzi,  whose 
sojourn  of  14  years  in  Angola  and 
Congo  gave  him  the  best  opportuni- 
ties for  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  Ne- 
gro customs,  describes  a  number  of 
different  classes  of  fetichmen  with  dis- 
tinct functions  pertaining  to  each 
<  lass.  The  1  hildren  of  a  man  killed 
by  lightning  applied  to  the  Ganga 
Amalocoy  to  ,uret  for  themselves  protec- 
tion   ajrainst   a    like  visitation.      The 


nelin,  Reise  durcfa  Sibir.  i.  d.  Jahren, 

1733-37.     <;""-  1 7  5 '  •  "•  J59.360- 

I  Pallas,  Reisen  durch  versch.   Provinzen 
d.  russ.  Reii  bes.   Petersburg,  1771, 1.  393,  394. 

!  (  Udendorp,  I.  339. 

§  Pallas,  I 

ndoi  p.  I. 

1   \ '■•-•.!.  v  c.  20, 248 ;  Cavazzi,  1. 253  seqq. 

*  •  Bastian,  95. 


Muiinu-a-maya  (Lord  of  Water)  di- 
vined by  inc. tns  oi  a  1  alabash  cast  into 
a  stream.  The  Molonga  prognostic 
(  ated  the  issue  of  disease  from  boil- 
ing water;  and  tin-  Neoni  from  reve- 
lations conveyed  to  him  from  Ins  idol, 
through  the  mouth  ol  the  Nzazi.  It 
these  prophecies  proved  false,  the 
priest  laid  the  blame  upon  his  Famil- 
iar Spirit,  and  procured  another. 
The  Ngodi  professed  to  give  speech 
to  die  dumb.  The  Amabttndu  could 
shield  from  harm  seed  sown  in  the 
ground.  The  Ganga  Mnene  could 
prevent  evil  spirits  from  eating  up  the 
grain  after  it  had  been  harvested. 
The  Ganga  Embugula  could  by  whist- 
ling overpower  his  enemies.  The 
Npungu,  the  Cabanzo  and  the  Issaen 
were  associated  together  in  the  work  of 
shielding  the  warriors  from  wounds, 
and  took  one  another's  places  when- 
ever one  of  themselves  happened  to  be 
wounded.  The  Ngurianambua  could 
charm  elephants  into  the  toils  ;  the 
Abacassu,  stampeded  cows;  and  the 
Npombolo,  all   kinds  of  wild  animals. 

J  The  wealthy  brought  their  deceased 
relatives  to  the  Nganga  Matombola. 
who  by  means  of  ids  magical  figures 

I  caused  them  to  rise  from  the  bier,  to 
move  their  limbs  and  to  walk  about.* 
"On  the  Gold  Coast  the  Wongmen 
differ  from  the  priests,  properly  so 
called.  The  Wongmen  are  possessed 
by  the  fetich,  Wong,  and  any  man 
may  become  a  wongman  provided  he 
has  learned  to  dance  to  the  sound  of 
the  drum,  to  chant  the  songs  which 
are  sung  when  the  oracle  is  consulted, 
and  to  perform  the  ritual  of  the  med- 
ical art.  There  is  another  class  of 
fetichmen,  the  Otutu-men,  who  also 
profess  the  art  of  healing,  and  who  at- 
tend to  the  Ordeals.  Then  there  are 
the  Gbalo,  or  Talkers,  who  summon 
the  spirits  and  question  them. 
Finally  there  are  tin-  Hongpatchulo, 
who  sell  charms  to  people  that  wish  a 
curse  or  an  enchantment  to  befall 
their  enemy.  besides  priests  some 
tribes  have  also  priestesses.  In  the 
northern    Xeirro    countries,    where    a 


( v.  Bastian,  201. 


FETICHISM. 


47 


nominal  Mohammedanism  prevails, 
there  is  not  to  be  found  such  a  va- 
riety of  priests  and  conjuring  physi- 
cians. Here  we  find  the  Marabouts, 
who,  in  addition  to  their  priestly  office, 
practice  divination  and  drive  a  trade 
in  Gree-Grees,  though  among  these 
are  many  who  have  nothing  to  do  with 
such  jugglery,  and  whose  study  it  is 
to  gain  a  name  for  piety  and  benefi- 
cence. Hence  the  Joloffs  make  a 
wide  distinction  between  the  true 
Marabouts  and  the  Thiedos  (Unbe- 
lievers, Atheists,  mercenaries),  who 
believe  in  nothing  save  their  gree- 
grees.    * 

Among  the  Kaffirs,  too,  the  Conjur- 
ers, Inyanga,  are  divided  into  several 
classes,  the  highest  being  that  of  the 
Izanuse,  or  "  Smellers,"  who  extract 
the  witchcraft  from  the  sick,  by  sniff- 
ing ;  while  the  inferior  classes  em- 
brace the  cow-doctors,  the  farriers 
and  the  fellers  of  timber.f 

The  conjurer-doctors,  or  medicine- 
men, who  are  common  to  Africa,  Asia 
and  America,  either  blow  their  breath 
upon  that  portion  of  the  patient's  body 
where  the  fetich  locates  the  disorder, 
or  rather  the  enchantment ;  or  they 
resort  to  suction,  friction  or  pressure 
on  the  diseased  part,  until  finally  they 
drive  out  the  spell,  which  makes  its 
appearance  in  the  shape  of  hair,  splin- 
ters of  wood,  thorns,  bones,  snakes' 
teeth,  and  the  like.J  They  prescribe 
for  their  patients  formidable  remedies 
and  regulate  their  diet.  Should  the 
sick  man  die  they  throw  the  blame 
upon  him,  as  not  having  exactly 
carried  out  their  prescriptions.  If 
they  see  no  chance  of  a  patient's  re- 
covery they  prescribe  a  course  of  treat- 
ment which  he  cannot  possibly  follow, 
such  as  violent  jumping,,  or  dancing, 


*Waitz,  II.  199. 

t  Ibid.  412. 

\  Greenlanders,  Cranz,  S.  270-74 ;  Am. 
Ind.,  Charlevoix,  264-268;  Hennepin,  in 
Voy.  au  N.  V.  293 ;  California  Ind.  Begert, 
142;  Natchez,  Petit,  Relations,  etc,  in  Voy.  au 
N.  IX.  26;  Caribs,  Biet,  p.  3S7 ;  Gumilla, 
hist,  de  l'Orinoque  Avigum,  170S,  II.  185; 
Du  Tertre,  Hist.  gen.  des  Antilles,  II.  366 
seq. ;  Brazilians,  Lery,  p.  242-47.  CJ.  supra, 
Section  II. 


and  thus  they  escape  all  responsibility 
for  his  death.*  The  Hottentot  poison- 
doctors  are  famous.  No  snake  can 
sting  them,  and  not  alone  can  they 
heal  the  bites  of  serpents  by  their 
sweat,  but  they  can  confer  on  others 
the  same  power.f  A  priest-physician 
in  Congo  had  in  his  establishment 
five  women  to  treat  various  diseases. 
His  pharmacopoeia,  however,  had  but 
few  medicaments  for  any  complaint 
save  for  the  Mai  Francez;  but  abun- 
dance of  magical  formulae. % 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  fetich- 
priests  are  soothsayers,  and  the  mouth- 
pieces of  the  oracles.  The  Lappish 
and  Siberian  Shamans  divine  by 
means  of  a  ring  which  they  place  on 
the  head  of  a  magical  drum.  They 
beat  a  certain  number  of  taps  on  the 
instrument  and  then  observe  on  which 
one  of  the  figures  painted  on  the 
drum-head,  the  ring  stands.  Each 
figure  has  a  special  significance  ;  and 
as  this  is  known  only  to  the  priests 
themselves,  the  response  will  be  what- 
ever they  choose  to  make  it.  Teleu- 
tian,  Sajanian  and  Abinzian  sooth- 
sayers divine  by  means  of  40  small  rods 
thrown  upon  the  head  of  a  magic 
drum  ;*  the  Tungoos  from  the  whir  of 
tarrows  shot  from  the  bow,  or  from 
the  vibrations  of  a  tense  bowstri'ng.§ 
The  N.  American  Jongleurs  set  fire  to 
pulverized  cedar  charcoal,  and  divine 
from  the  direction  in  which  the  fire 
travels.  || 

In  Africa,  the  Npindi  conjured  the 
wreather  at  the  intersection  of  road- 
ways. "  The  Rain-makers  have  at  all 
times,  and  among  every  people,  acted 
an  important  part,  and  many  African 
populations  invested  their  princes 
with  this  dignity,  which  was  often  as 

*  Charlevoix,  p.  368.  Des  qu'ils  voyent 
un  malade  tourner  a  la  mort,  ils  ne  man- 
quent  jamais  de  faire  une  ordonnance  dont 
1 'execution  est  si  difficile,  qu'ils  out  a  coup 
sur  leur  recours  sur  ce  qu'elle  n'a  pas  ete 
exactement  suivie. 

t  Steedman,  Thompson,  v.  Meyer,  Reise 
in  S.  Afrika  (1S40).  Hamb.  1843,  S.  158-, 
Kretzschmar,  S.  Afr.  Skizzen.  Leipz.  1853, 
167  ff.     Cf.  Waitz,  III.  213. 

%  Bastian,  202. 

§  Georgi,  Beschreib.  S.  395. 

||  Charlevoix,  p.  363. 


I  I    I  I'    III^M. 


full  of  danger  for  them  ;is  was  the 
:  over  the  harvests  for  the  an- 
cient kings  "i  Sweden,  The  Km- 
•  il  ( Ihina  devolves  upon  his  sub- 
the  r<  sponsibility  for  hi*  lack  of 
power  in  this  regard,  assigning  .is 
the  reason  their  w i<  kedness.  The 
hair  and  nails  are  plucked  from  the 
body  ol  the  Mani  of  Jumba,  after  his 
death,  and  preserved  as  infallible 
rain-makers.  The  Makoko  ol  the 
Anzikos  wished  to  gel  for  the  like 
purpose  one-half  of  the  beard  worn  by 
the  missionaries;  and  would  even 
agree  to  undergo  the  i  er<  mi  my  of 
baptism  as  the  price  of  so  potent  a 
charm,  just  as  the  despot  of  Renin 
ed  in  pay  the  same  price  for  a 
white  wife."  Bastian  thus  describes 
the  manner  of  conjuring  the  rain; 
"The  sky  was  overcast  and  the  thun- 
der rolled  above  the  mountain-tops  ; 
but  when  I  expressed  my  fears  of  a 
storm,  my  guide  assured  me  that  I 
need  have  no  apprehension,  as  one 
of  the  officials  who  accompanied  me 
was  an  accomplished  rain-conjurer, 
and  he  had  promised  that  he  would 
not  permit  a  single  drop  to  fall.  I  was 
fain  to  accept  the  assurance,  and  the 
so,  as  I  saw  my  Zeus  Aetherius 
0  his  feet,  shake  his  raven  lot  ks, 
extend  his  hand  menacingly  toward 
the  clouds,  and  point  with  his  finger 
in  every  direction.  My  carriers,  who 
looked  on  devoutly,  thought  the  cere- 
mony was  now  at  an  end,  and  made 
off  with  the  tipoja  (mat-palanquin): 
but  scarce  had  we  left  the  tree,  be- 
neath which  I  had  hoped  to  be  shel- 
tered from  the  rain,  when  the  Hood- 
gates  of  heaven  were  opened,  and  in 
an  instant  I  was  drenched  to  the 
skin."t  Rain-makers  are  to  be  found 
everywhere  in  Africa,  .is,  for  instance. 
amongthe  BushmenJ  and  the  E£afBrs,§ 
who  at  first  took  the  missionaries  to 
be  a  new  kind  of  rain-makers. 

••  The  wind-maker,  too,  is  an  impor- 
tant personage  ever  since  the  Negroes 

istian,  in'.  117,  118. 
1  Ibid. 

I  I  ,i<  htenstein,  1 1.  102. 
§    Campbell,  2nd   Journey,  230.    236,238; 
Thompson,  Trav.  and  Adv.  in  S.  Afr.  I.  180. 


have  bei  ome  a<  1  usti  in.  d  to  use  1 
pean  manufa<  ones :  as  an)  delay  in 
the    arrival    ol    the    merchanl-vi 
may  occasion  suffering  to  the  natives. 
Inasmuch  as  they  do  not  themselves 
tempi    the  deep,   the  conjurer  1 
find  no  market  among  them  for  Lap 
pish    1  i<  ks  :  and  instead,  he  re- 

tires into  Ills  hut,  w  Inch  smokes  and 
roi  ks  while  he  is  engaged  inside  with 

his  redoubtable  in<  antations.  conjur- 
ing up  the  favoring  breezes  which 
shall  conduct  to  theii  shores  the  fleets 

of  the  white  men."  ' 

Such  is  the  power  which  th 
possesses  ovei  Nature,  over  Spirits, 
men  and  beasts. t  The  common 
people  have  full  faith  in  this  power;  and 
as  the  priest  himself  is  no  less  .1  sav- 
age than  the_\-,  his  faith  is  the  same. 
Should  his  incantations  fail  to  pro- 
duce the  desired  effect,  he  accounts 
for  the  failure  by  supposing  that 
counter  incantations  have  been  at 
work,  or  that  the  ritual  has  not  been 
strictly  observed,  and  this  explanation 
satisfies  not  alone  others,  but  also 
himself.  There  are  even  at  this  day 
plenty  of  people  in  civilized  Europe 
who  tell  fortunes,  who  practice  necro- 
mancy, who  profess  to  cure  diseases 
by  the  imposition  of  hands  and  other 
similar  means:  and  who  are  them- 
selves no  less  deceived  than  those 
who  employ  them.  The  records  of 
courts  of  justice  and  the  reports  of 
asylums  for  the  insane  are  sufficient 
evidence  of  this.  "  The  Cazembe 
now  in  highest  repute  regards  himself 
as  immortal  by  reason  of  his  magic 
arts,  and  says  that  his  predecessor's 
death  was  due  to  a  want  of  precaution. 
lie  is  possessed  of  such  an  excess  of 
magic  power  that  its  superabundance 
would  at  once  annihilate  whosoever 
should  come  in  contact  with  him  ;  and 
there  is  accordingly  a  curious  ceremo- 
nial to  be  observed,  in  order  to  avoid 
such  consequences.  This  ceremonial 
would  almost  appear  as  though 
plagiarized  from  the  animal-magnet- 
izers.     In    their   system    it    is   called 


•  H; istian,  ub.  sitfr. 
i  Wait/,  V.  1,  178. 


FETICHISM. 


49 


Dorsal  Manipulation,  and  its  purpose 
is  to  re-isolate  the  somnambulic  sub- 
ject.''* 

Undoubtedly  the  priests  are  the 
first  to  detect  the  imposture  and  to 
discover  the  impotence  of  their  idols 
and  of  their  own  arts.  Still,  lest  the 
people  should  be  shocked  by  the  pub- 
lication of  this  discovery,  the  priest 
will  keep  it  to  himself,  henceforth  act- 
ing the  part  of  a  conscious  deceiver, 
from  motives  of  selfish  interest  and 
ambition.  With  this  view  he  will 
surround  himself  with  a  veil  of  mys- 
tery, and  resort  to  all  manner  of 
tricks  and  fraud. 

'•  The  only  kind  of  historic  record 
to  be  found  among  African  tribes  is 
the  traditional  narrative  of  important 
events,  and  this  is  handed  down  from 
one  fetich  priest  to  another  as  a  se- 
cret of  the  craft.  Accordingly,  when 
application  is  made  to  the  priests 
for  counsel,  the  knowledge  which 
they  possess  of  the  past  history  of 
the  various  families  of  the  tribe,  gains 
for  them  the  credit  of  inspiration."  f 
They  alone  are  privileged  to  hold 
converse  with  the  great  dread  fetich 
who  dwells  in  the  recesses  of  the 
forest,  and  to  tread  the  floor  of  his 
home,  without  being  torn  in  pieces.:? 
They  are  not  men  of  the  common 
mold ,  their  origin  is  enveloped  in 
mystery.  Among  the  Dakotas  the 
medicine-men  and  medicine-women 
first  come  into  the  world  in  the  shape 
of  pinnate  seeds,  something  like  the 
seeds  of  the  thistle.  Then  they  are 
driven  about  by  the  winds  and  thus 
come  into  relations  with  mighty 
spirits,  whose  preternatural  science 
and  power  they  make  their  own. 
Next  they  gain  entrance  into  the 
womb  of  a  woman,  and  in  due  time 
are  born  with  human  bodies ;  though 
after  death  they  return  to  the  society 
of  the  gods.  After  they  have  four 
times  run  their  career  in  human  shape 
they  are  annihilated.  They  may  like- 
wise be  transformed  into  wild  beasts. § 


*  Bastian,  293. 

t  Ibid.  100. 

}  Lettres  edif.  IX.  95  ;  Dobrizhofer,  II.  99, 

§  Waitz,  II.  180,  504  i  V.  2,  17S. 


They  can  also  cause  ghosts  to  appear 
on  occasion,  to  inspire  the  vulgar  with 
due  respect  for  the  fetich  and  for  his 
retreat  in  the  woods.  "  The  village 
was  situate  on  the  edge  of  a  dense 
forest,  and  on  learning  that  in  the 
forest  there  was  a  fetich-house,  I  di- 
rected my  men  to  advance  by  a  cir- 
cuitous foot-path  leading  to  it.  They 
stoutly  refused,  saying  that  not  one 
of  them  could  come  back  alive  :  and 
it  was  only  by  repeated  threats  that 
I  could  induce  them  to  move.  But 
as  soon  as  the  villagers  were  aware 
of  my  purpose,  they  surrounded  my 
mat-palanquin  en  masse,  entreating 
me  not  to  expose  myself  to  destruc- 
|  tion  :  and  threw  themselves  before 
j  the  feet  of  my  carriers,  to  prevent 
their  advancing — a  very  unnecessary 
thing  to  do,  as  the  carriers  them- 
selves showed  no  disposition  to  go 
forward.  However,  as  I  longed  to 
examine  a  second  fetich-house,  I 
paid  no  attention  to  their  entreaties, 
pushed  back  those  that  stood  close 
around  my  palanquin,  and  repeated 
my  command  to  move  on,  with  some 
emphasis.  The  whole  multitude  then 
uttered  the  most  pitiable  cries.  The 
women  tore  their  hair,  and  beat  their 
breasts,  and  the  seniors  rolled  them- 
selves in  the  dust  alongside  the  pal- 
anquin, invoking  the  power  of  heaven 
and  earth  to  check  my  progress.  I 
was  at  length  obliged  to  yield.  As 
we  went  up  the  ravine  which  skirted 
the  forest  there  went  up  a  fearful  bel- 
lowing, which  seemed  to  issue  now 
from  one  quarter,  again  from  another, 
and  which  imitated  all  manner  of  in 
describable  noises.  The  Negroes, 
terrified  by  this  outburst  of  fetich 
indignation,  ran  in  all  speed  from  the 
locality,  to  escape  from  the  wrath  of 
the  god  •  for  there  great  Pan  is  not 
yet  dead."  *  The  Great  Spirit  of  the 
Shekani  and  the  Bakele  dwells  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  At  times 
he  comes  forth,  and  takes  up  his 
dwelling  in  a  great  house  which  has 
been  built  for  him,  and  there  he 
utters  such   frightful  bellowings  that 


*  Bastian,  193. 


I  l.l  [l  HISM. 


women    ami    children    tremble    with 

The  piirsts  are  deeply  versed  in 
tin-  science  of  ghostly  apparitions. 
"The  Spirit-seers  <>i  America  might 
get  from  African  professors  many  prac- 
tical rules  for  the  converse  with  Spir- 
its, which  they  could  readily  turn  into 
hard    cash.      but    tiny   must    make 

haste,  for  the  COUTtS  oi  justice  at  (  'ape 

Coast  Castle  are  beginning  to  shed 
light  upon  the  mystic  cloud  <>t  secrecy 
which  involves  Negro  spiritism,  and 
have  already  condemned  more  than 
one  unmasked  fetichman  as  an  im- 
postor. As  society  assumes  definite 
shape  in  the  colony,  the  more  danger- 
ous fetich  practices  are  more  and 
more  brought  under  the  control  of 
the  law  ;  and  the  peaceable  citizens 
adopt  the  policy  of  favoring  and 
strengthening  the  Mylah  ceremonial 
in  opposition  to  that  of  the  Obeah; 
thus,  m  the  words  of  S.  Augustine, 
patronizing  theurgy  in  order  to  dis- 
credit goety."  t 

Nor  must  we  omit  to  take  note  of 
the  ceremonies  performed  by  the  feti- 
ceros.  These  are  usually  conducted 
in  the  most  fearful  style  of  wild  and 
boisterous  frenzy.  In  proportion  as 
the  rational  faculty  is  developed,  a 
man  controls  more  and  more  the  ex- 
ternal bodily  signs  of  emotion.  His 
power  of  speech  has  attained  that  de- 
gree of  perfectionment,  that  he  can 
readily  convey  to  others  by  that  means 
all  his  sensations :  he  uses  language. 
But  the  lower  the  grade  of  mental  de- 
velopment, the  weaker  is  the  power 
of  expressing  in  words  the  sensations 
and  emotions  of  the  mind.  Clowns 
and  children  speak  by  means  of  gest- 
ure, and  their  whole  body  seems  to 
express  their  emotions.  With  the 
savage  accordingly,  whose  language 
is  fragmentary,  the  lack  of  verbal  ex- 
pression must  be  made  up  by  violent 
gesticulation.  When  the  King  of 
Dahomey  would  do  honor  to  a  foreign 
guest  by  chanting  a  song  of  praise, 
he  must  also  give  proof  at  the   same 


*  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  etc.,  p.  yji. 
|  Bastian,  toi,  85. 


time  of  his  saltatory  skill.  When 
Bastian  was  entertained  1>\  the  king 
of  Shemba-Shemba,  that  potentate 
simply  kept  up  a  up .\  1  meni  ol  1  li<- 
feet  <i  tempo,  and  made  frequent  genu- 
flections, in  performing  which  he 
would  slip  partly  out  of  his  seat,  and 
give  his  little  cap  of  bast  a  graceful 
toss  on  his  poll.  Several  nations  re- 
sort to  the  mimic  hieroglyph  language 
of  tin-  dance.*  It  need  not  oc<  asion 
surprise,  then,  if  the  savage,  when  un- 
der the  stress  of  violent  emotions, 
finds  expression  less  in  language  than 
in  cries  and  shouts,  wild  gestures, 
leaping  and  rolling  on  the  ground. 
We  have  aliead\  seen  many  examples 

of  this.t  Hut  whence  does  the  priest 
or  the  conjurer  derive  his  power  over 
the  objects  against  which  his  conjur- 
ing arts  are  directed  ?  This  power 
comes  from  his  fetiches.  They  must 
endow  him  with  the  power  they  them- 
selves possess  and  must  in  his  person 
make  display  of  it.  Accordingly  the 
conjurer  becomes  transformed,  and 
pssessed  of  unwonted  strength.  He 
has  to  manifest  the  presence  and  ef- 
ficiency of  the  Power  which  possesses 
him,  and  the  expression  which  he 
gives  to  it,  is  the  same  as  that  by 
which  he  gives  utterance  to  every 
strong  and  passionate  emotion,  viz., 
the  wildest  and  most  violent  convul- 
sive movements  of  the  body.  Maniacs 
are  by  savages  regarded  with  great 
alarm,  as  being  possessed  by  spir- 
its.J  It  is  perfectly 'natural,  therefore, 
that  the  conjurer,  when  possessed  by 
the  spirit  of  the  fetich,  should  become 
lor  the  time  being  a  maniac.  When 
the  priest  has  wrought  his  mind  into 
the  last  degree  of  frenzy,  he  is  judged 
then  to  have  attained  the  height  of 
his  magic  power,  and  to  manifest  to 
its  full  extent  the  dread  might  of  the 
fetich.  It  is  therefore  the  business  of 
the  priest  to  know  how  to  arouse  him- 
self to  this  state  of  frenzy.  If  nature 
qualifies  him  for  the  task,  so  much 
the  better:   and    for   this   reason    the 


*  Bastian,  56. 

t  ('/'.  Wait/,  II.  205  seq.  223. 

J  Georgi,    Beschreibung,  S.   376;  Gmelin 

IV.  lex,. 


FETICHISM. 


51 


priests  select  children  who  are  epilep- 
tics, to  be  trained  to  the  priestly  func- 
tions.* "  The  Shamans  pass  into  the 
state  of  madness  by  a  super-excita- 
tion of  the  motor  system,  and  at  the 
same  time  often  become  the  subjects 
of  hallucination,  accompanied  by  com- 
plete mental  alienation,  owing  to  spir- 
itual excitement.  By  careful  training, 
children  of  feeble  nervous  constitu- 
tion are  educated  to  pass  readily  into 
this  state  of  alienation  and  phantasy, 
and  so  attain  in  this  art  a  degree  of 
perfection  unattainable  under  any 
other  conditions.  Just  as  jugglers 
perform  feats  of  skill  which  fill  us  with 
astonishment,  though  an  anatomist 
will  show  you,  from  the  arrangement 
of  the  muscles,  how  such  sleights  are 
rendered  possible  :  so  the  Shamans 
are  a  kind  of  psychical  jugglers,  who 
have  in  childhood  been  trained  to  per- 
form several  abnormal  mental  opera- 
tions, which  we  neither  can  nor  would 
imitate,  or  even  countenance.  On  the 
contrary,  we  suppress  all  tendencies 
in  that  direction  as  quickly  as  they 
manifest  themselves.  But  there  may 
even  be  normal  mental  operations 
well-developed  in  the  savage,  which 
we  lack ;  just  as  we  lack  some  of  his 
physical  accomplishments,  for  in- 
stance, the  power  of  employing  the 
toes  in  place  of  the  fingers,  for  the 
purpose  of  weaving,  grasping,  etc.  : 
a  faculty  possessed  by  the  Coch- 
in-Chinese, Polynesians  and  other 
races."  t 

This  faculty  of  psychical  juggler}' 
is  enlarged  by  hereditary  transmission. 
Inasmuch  as  epilepsy  is  heritable, 
it  is  not  unusual  for  the  office  of 
Shaman  to  be  handed  down  from 
father  to  son  for  from  four  to  six 
generations  ,  and  a  Shaman  is  esteem- 

*  As  to  the  Siberians,  Georgi,  ub.  sup. ; 
Patagonians,  Falkner,  Descr.  Patagon.  Lond. 
1774,  p.  117  :  "  They  who  are  seized  with  fits 
of  the  falling  sickness  or  the  Chorea  Sancti 
Viti,  are  immediately  selected  for  this  em- 
ployment, as  chosen  by  the  demons  them- 
selves :  whom  they  suppose  to  possess  them 
and  to  cause  all  those  convulsions  and  distor- 
tions common  in  epileptic  paroxysms  ;  Green- 
landers,  Cranz,  S.  268,  270. 

t  Bastian,  Die  Seele  u.  s.  w.  S.  IX. 


ed  in  proportion  to  the  antiquity  of  his 
Shaman  ancestry.*  The  dexterity  of 
the  Shamans  in  performing  their  feats 
of  psychical  jugglery  we  may  learn 
from  the  account  given  by  Carver. 
He  saw  an  elderly  member  of  "  the 
Friendly  Society  of  the  Spirit,"  which 
is  an  association  of  fetich-priests, 
throw  at  a  young  man  who  was  to  be 
elected  into  the  society,  a  bean,  or 
something  that  had  the  shape  and 
color  of  a  bean.  "  Instantly  he  fell 
motionless,  as  if  he  had  been  shot." 
He  remained  insensible  for  a  consid- 
erable time,  until  he  was  brought  to 
his  senses  by  means  of  very  violent 
friction  and  even  blows.  And  even 
then,  consciousness  returned  only 
after  he  had  passed  through  a  series 
of  the  most  fearful  convulsive  fits.f 
The  witches  also,  in  the  middle  ages, 
fell  to  the  ground,  as  though  dead, 
when  forced  to  anoint  themselves 
with  their  witch's  salve. %  In  pro- 
portion as  the  priestly  office,  having 
taken  root  in  society,  becomes  a  herit- 
able privilege,  and  as  the  nervous  pre- 
disposition, which  at  an  earlier  period 
determined  the  selection  of  the  candi- 
date, is  lost  under  the  influence  of 
prosperity,  the  more  difficult  does  it 
become  to  bring  about  the  state  of 
ecstasy  by  means  of  convulsive  opera- 
tions, and  then  resort  has  to  be  made 
to  sundry  contrivances,  viz. :  deafening 
music,  violent  jumping,  inhalation  of 
narcotic  vapors,  the  repetition  of  mo- 
notonous sounds,  excessive  transpira- 
tion, protracted  abstinence  from  food, 
partial  strangulation,  etc.  These 
methods  are  universally  employed  by 
fetich-priests,  to  attain  their  purpose. 
The  Jongleurs  of  the  American  Conti- 
nent practice  such  contortions  of  body, 
and  utter  such  hideous  cries,  that  not 
alone  the  spectators  are  filled  with 
consternation, §  but  even  women   and 


*Gmelin,  TIT.  331. 

t  Carver,  Trav.  through  the  Inter.  Parts  of 
X.  America.    Lond.  1778,  p.  271,  274. 

t  Bodin,  de  la  Demonomanie  des  Sorciers. 
Paris,  15S1,  p.  96-99  ;  Malleus  Malefic.  Lugd. 
1669,  II.  69. 

§  Charlevoix,  p.  361  seqq. :  On  les  y  voit 
entrer  dans  des  convulsions  et  des  enthousi- 
asmes,  prendre  des  tons  de  voix  et  faire  des 


II    II (   1 1  ISM. 


children  at  a  distance  are  thrown  into 
convulsions  ol  terror.*  By  means  ol 
similar  contortions  and  shouting  the 
Shamans  of  Siberia  and  the  African 
feticeros  work  themselves  up  into  the 
state  of  ecstasy,  t  I  o  expedite  matters 
they  drink  tobacco-juice,  or  resorl  to 
exhausting  vapor-baths.}  The  Sha- 
mans of  Siberia  drink  a  decoction  ..| 
toadstools  or  the  urine  of  those  who 
have  become  narcotized  by  eating 
that  plant. §  The  highly  excited 
nervous  condition  produced  in  the 
conjurer  by  his  fearful  bodily  exerci- 
tations  is  so  exhausting  that  many  re- 
fuse  to  go  through  them,  even  on 
promise  of  a  considerable  reward.  || 
This  artificial  frenzy  has  such  a  seri- 
ous effect  upon  the  body,  and  more 
particularly  the  eyes,  that  many  of 
the  Shamans  become  blind:  a  cir- 
cumstance which  enhances  the  esteem 
in  which  they  are  held.lf 

Among  the  means  employed  for  the 
purpose  of  inspiring  the  beholders 
with  awe  we  must  reckon  the  attire  of 
the  fetichman.  Andfirst  we  have  the 
conjurer's  mantle  and  his  magic  drum. 
— apparatus  which  appear  to  be  want- 
ing to  the  Shaman  men  and  women  of 
Kamwrhatka  alone  of  all  the  Sha- 
mans of  Siberia.  The  drum  is  a  sim- 
ple sieve,  a  sheepskin  being  drawn 
over  one  rim,  and  the  inside  of  the 
frame  having  a  lot  of  jingles  and  lit- 
tle idols  suspended  from  it.  The  real 
purpose  of  this  instrument — viz.,  to 
deaden  the  senses  by  its  noise — is 
very  different  from  that  assigned 
by  the  Shamans.  They  assert  that 
the  gods  and  the  spirits  have  a  lik- 
ing for   this    fearful    music,   and    are 


actions,  qui  paraissent   au-dessus  des  forces 

humaines  ct  qui  inspircnt  aux  spectateurs  les 

plus  preVenus  contre  leurs  impostures  une 

111  ct  mi  saississement,  dont  ils  ne  sont 

*  I)e  I.crv,  Hist,  d'un  Voy.  fait  en  la  Terre 
tli    Brlsil.    Geneve,  1 5S0,  p.  242-47,  298. 

t  Georgi,  Beschr.  S.  320.  377,37s;  Gmelin, 
Reisen,  I.  2S5.  397,  398;  [sbrand,  in  Voy.  au 
N.  VIII.  56 S(  I    >mer,  57,  Bosmann,  260. 

}  Charlevoix,  p.  361,  362. 

§  Georgi,  S.  329. 

II  Charlevoix,  p.  362. 
IT  Georgi,  ub.  sup. 


attracted  by  it.*  They  therefore 
keep  up  a  drumming  until  those  be- 
ings  make  their  appearance;  r. *.  un- 
til the  drummer  himself,  by  his  vio- 
lent exen  ise,  has  passed  into  the 
state  of  ecstasy.  The  drum  is  some- 
times replaced  by  a  staff  hung  with 
bells,  or  by  some  other  noisv  instru- 
ment.! The  Dakotas,  besides  the 
drum  and  the  clappers,  employ  a 
notched  bone,  with  which  they  saw 
upon  the  edge  of  a  tin  dish  :  and  thus 
they  produce  shrill.  ear-rending 
sounds. %  Isbrand  gives  the  following 
description  of  the  Shaman's  leather 
conjuring  mantle  :  A  sort  of  long 
coat  (casaque),  adorned  with  pendent 
figures  of  iron,  representing  all  kinds 
of  birds,  fishes,  and  wild  beasts:  ar- 
rows, saws,  hammers,  swords,  clubs — 
in  a  word,  every  conceivable  thing 
that  is  calculated  to  inspire  fear.§  A 
mantle  of  this  description  is  so  heavy 
that  a  strong  man  can  scarce  lift  it 
with  ohe  hand  ,||  and  when  the 
Shaman,  clothed  in  this  garment, 
leaps  and  jumps  about  with  all  his 
might,  there  arises  such  a  clangor 
that  you  might  well  imagine  you  had 
before  you  some  fiend  in  chains. H 
And  the  remainder  of  his  equipment 
is  perfectly  in  keeping  with  his  mantle  : 
his  headdress,  the  plumage  of  the  owl 
and  the  eagle  ,  the  snake-skins  and 
horns  suspended  here  and  there  for 
effect ,  and  the  gloves,  resembling  the 
paws  of  a  bear.  African  feticeros 
trick  themselves  out  with  the  skins  of 
tigers  and  lions.  They  daub  their 
faces  with  white  paint,  and  the  rest  of 
their  bodies  with  other  colors ;  or 
else  they  give  themselves  a  true  coat 
of  tar  and  feathers.  Then  they  sus- 
pend from  their  persons  a  number  of 
little  bells,  animals'  heads,  wings  and 
claws  ;  drums,  weapons,  horns,  herbs, 
roots,    etc.**      Thus    weighted    they 

*  Georgi,  Beschr.  S.  378  and  S.  13;  Gme- 
lin,  II.  49. 

t  Georgi,  S.  13,  37S  ;  Gmelin,  I.  289. 

J  Schoolcraft,  Illustrations,  PI.  75. 
§  Isbrand,  p.  56  ;    Georgi,  Beschr.  S.  377  J 
Gmelin,  I.  397.399;  ll-  83- 
||  Ibidem. 

1  Gmelin,  I.  398. 
**  Ibid. 


FETICHISM. 


dance,  howl,  scream,  and  foam,  as  is 
related  of  the  conjurers  of  Thibet : 
saltitant,  torquentur  in  omnes  partes, 
fremunt,  furunt,  strident,  ululant,  etc.* 
These  operations  they  perform  in  the 
mystic  gloom  of  some  darksome  hut,  or 
in  total  darkness. t  These  conjurers 
often  perform  tricks  of  common  jug- 
glery. Thus  they  will  perform  a  trick 
called  "  washing  with  fire,"  where  they 
dexterously  separate  the  fire  from  the 
ashes,  suffering  only  the  latter  to  touch 
their  bodies  ;  or  they  will  tread  bare- 
foot upon  hot  coals,  pierce  their  bod- 
ies with  arrows,  or  knives,  etc.t 

By  such  artifices  as  these  the  power 
and  influence  of  the  feticeros,  which 
were  already  secured  to  them  in  pop- 
ular estimation  by  their  intimate  con- 
verse with  the  fetiches,  are  enhanced 
enormously.  The  assistance  of  the 
fetich  priest  is  indispensable  on  all  oc- 
casions, whether  public  or  private,  and 
is  always  invoked.  Hence  at  Fer- 
nando Po  the  Chief  Priest,  or  Botaki- 
maon,  is  "  a  weighty  man  in  the  state." 
Each  village  has  its  own  Buyeh-rup, 
who  gives  counsel  in  domestic  con- 
cerns. This  Buyeh  is,  however,  a  far 
less  important  personage  than  the  Bot- 
akimaon,  at  whose  residence  the  Ne- 
groes assemble  in  the  season  of  the 
Ripe  Yams  to  celebrate  the  "  Custom." 
It  is  the  Botakimaon  who  crowns  the 
king.  According  to  Consul  Hutchi- 
son (in  his  interesting  work,  Impres- 
sions of  Western  Africa),  "  the  Botaki- 
maon, previous  to  the  ceremony  of 
coronation,  retires  into  a  deep  cavern, 
and  there,  through  the  intermediary 
of  a  Rukaruko  (snake-demon)  consults 
the  demon  Maon.  He  brings  back 
to  the  king  the  message  he  receives, 
sprinkles  him  with  a  yellow  powder 
called   tsheoko,    and    puts  upon    his 


*  Cavazzi,  II.  183,  196,  251.  Same  account 
given  of  the  savage  inhabitants  of  the  isth.  of 
Darien,  California  and  Brazil  by  Wafer,  Voy- 
ages ou  l'on  trouve  une  description  de 
Tisthmede  Darien  [Apud  Dampier,  Voyages, 
Tom.  IV.)  p.  176;  Lery,  242,  247,  298;  Be- 
gert,  Nachrichten  von  Californien.  Mann- 
heim, 1712,  S.  142,  159,  165. 

t  Alphab.  Thibet,  p.  24^;,  244. 

\  Gmelin,  II.  87 ;   I II.  (Yorrede)  S.  7  ;   III. 


head  the  hat  his  father  wore.  Hav- 
ing once  ascended  the  throne,  the  use 
of  cocco  {arum  acaule)  and  of  the  flesh 
of  the  wild  boar  and  the  porcupine  is 
interdicted  to  him."  *  The  priest  is 
also  a  jurist,  giving  judgment  on  cases 
where  the  individual  comes  in  con- 
flict with  the  laws  of  the  state.  "  The 
only  concession  made  in  a  primitive 
condition  of  society  to  the  common 
weal  by  the  Negro  (who  in  all  other 
respects  is  absolutely  independent),  is 
this,  that  he  accepts  the  ancient  tradi- 
tions, and  acknowledges  their  bind- 
ing force  :  but  now,  even  while  he  is 
determined  that  these  shall  place  the 
least  possible  restriction  on  his  liberty, 
he  assigns  to  .them  a  weight  of  au- 
thority which  soon  removes  them  be- 
yond his  control.  He  studies  to  keep 
them  as  far  as  possible  in  the  back- 
ground ;  he  never  meditates  upon 
them,  never  strives  to  determine  pre- 
cisely what  they  are.  The  conse- 
quence is,  that  he  is  soon  caught  in 
the  toils,  and  can  extricate  himself 
only  by  the  aid  of  those  who  are 
skilled  in  legal  technicalities,  i.e.,  the 
priests.  He  thus  is  at  their  mercy, 
and  becomes  their  slave."  f  In  his 
capacity  as  jurist  the  priest  adminis- 
ters oaths  and  conducts  the  ordeals. 
This  latter  function  is  in  their  hands 
an  engine  of  boundless  mischief. 
"  As  every  case  of  death  whose  cause 
is  in  any  way  obscure,  is  ascribed  to 
witchcraft,  and  the  kindred  of  the 
deceased  are  obliged  to  avenge  his 
death ;  the  priests  who  conduct  the 
ordeal  are  invested  with  formidable 
powers.  The  cause  of  death  being 
obscure,  the  kinsman  of  the  deceased 
has  no  course  left,  save  to  follow  the 
directions  given  by  those  who  are  em- 
inently fitted  to  be  his  guides.  He 
accordingly  applies  to  the  fetichman 
and  inquires  of  him  what  foe  has  done 
this  deed.     The  priest  ascertains  dur. 

*  Cf.  Bastian,  318,  319.  Tsheoko  is  a  vege- 
table product,  obtained,  according  to  Hutch- 
ison, by  collecting  a  creamy  coat  that  is  found 
on  the  waters  at  the  mouth  of  some  small 
rivers,  evaporating  the  water  and  forming  a 
chalky  mass  of  the  residue. 

t  liastian,  167. 


•  t 


HIM  IIIsM. 


leep  "i  in  a  trance  the  response 

to  make,  and  names  the  offender. 

the  <  tord<  or  the  body 

of  the  de<  i  ased,  as  the  bearers  halt 

re  his  hut ;  or   the   discovery  of 

buried  talismans,  will  put  the  guilt  of 

the  accused  beyond  question.     By  de- 

■  •!  the  Palaver  he  is  arrested, 
bound   hand   and   foot,  and   hewed   to 

s:  for  it  is  a  religious  duty,  in- 
cumbent on  every  member  of  the  com- 
munity, to  take  part  in  the  execution 
of  the  culprit.  The  tyrants  of  the  Zu- 
lus availed  themselves  of  this  dogma, 
to  further  their  political  aims.  On  the 
faith  of  oracles  which  accorded  with 
their  own  desires,  they  extinguished 
almost  the    entire    arisi  I  their 

nation,  and    grew   rich  by  confiscating 
the  herds  of  the  condemned."  * 

The  priest  obtains  knowledge  of 
what  is  to  come  by  inspecting  the 
entrails  of  victims,  or  by  revelation 
from  the  fetich.  He  may.  at  his 
pleasure,  predict  a  favorable  or  an 
unfavorable  issue  for  an  enterprise  ; 
and  thus  may  put  a  stop  to  measures 
of  which  he  disapproves.  It  is  to  him 
also  that  the  fetich  makes  known  his 
wishes  as  to  what  he  would  have 
done  ;  and  then  the  priest  can  for- 
ward what  enterprise  he  will.  "  It  is 
the  will  and  command  of  the  fetich  :  " 
such  is  the  formula  in  which  the 
priest's  own  desires  find  expression  ; 
and  thus  they  become  a  law  for  the 
deluded  people.  This  exaggeration 
of  the  fetich  priestly  power  is  spe- 
cially exemplified  in  the  family  of  the 
high-priest  of  Whida,  and  in  the  Chi- 
tome  of  Congo.  The  Negro  of  Whida 
worships,  as  I  st  fetich,  the  sa- 

cred serpent,  of  which  we  will  speak 
in  another  place.  It  is  death  to  re- 
fuse anything  to  the  priests  and 
priestesses  of  this  fetich.  They  may 
carry  off  for  their  feticli  what- 
they  will  —  cattle,  men.  treasure. 
The  high-priest  rules  supreme,  the 
king  being  only  the  chief  of  his  ser- 
vants.t        But   this   absolute   priestly 


*  Bastian,  91. 

I  Bosmann,  45S  fif. ;  Des  Marchais,  II.  144. 
»53- 


r  attains  its  highest  develop- 
ment in  the  (  hitonie  of  Cod-,,.  |  I  ■ 
IS  not  honored  as  the  principal  min- 
ister of  the  gods  or  fetiches:  he  is 
himself  a  god,  a  fetich.  His  person 
is  incomparably  more  sacred  than 
thai  of  any  king  in  Africa  .  his  1 
greater,  and  his  house  more  jealously 
guarded  against  profane  intrusion. 
He  may  commit  what  crimes  he  will, 
but  no  man  can  so  much  as  call  him 
to  account,  far  less  seize  his  person 
or  inflict  punishment.  Without  his 
will  and  assent  the  king  can  undertake 
no  business  of  importance,  and  no 
minister  of  the  king  can  assume 
!  office.  Newly-appointed  governors 
visit,  with  a  great  retinue,  the  palace 
of  the  Chitome,  and  with  all  humility 
beg  of  him  his  gracious  permission 
I  to  enter  on  their  duties.  The  prayer 
iis  never  granted  in  the  first  instance, 
the  Chitome  obliging  them  to  wait 
his  pleasure  until  they  have  backed 
up  their  petition  with  a  respectable 
amount  of  gifts.  At  length  he  comes 
forth  out  of  his  palace,  sprinkles  the 
suppliants  with  water,  strews  dust 
upon  them,  and  orders  them  to  lie  on 
their  backs  upon  the  ground.  He 
then  treads  several  times  on  their 
bodies,  to  signify  that  they  are  his 
servants  ;  and  exacts  from  them  an 
oath  of  implicit  and  prompt  obedience 
1  to  every  command  of  the  Chitome. 
The  humbled  governors  consider 
themselves  in  luck  if  the  high-priest 
1  gives  them  a  brand  .from  the  sacred 
fire,  which  he  keeps  ever  burning. 
Such  brands  he  sells  for  the  healing 
and  prevention  of  disease.  A  portion 
of  all  the  products  of  the  field  be- 
longs to  the  Chitome.  It  is  by  his 
power  that  the  universe  is  upheld — 
but  here,  too,  unlimited  power  has  its 
peculiar  disadvantages.  For  since  the 
universe  is  upheld  only  by  the  Chitome, 
and,  were  he  to  die,  would  undoubt- 
edly  go  to  destruction,  therefore  the 
Chitome  must  never  die.  Accord- 
ingly,  when  he  falls  dangerously  sick. 
his  successor  forces  his  way  into  the 
palace,  provided  with  a  club  and  a 
halter  ;  with  the  one  or  the  other  of 
which  the    Chitome  is   dispatched,  as 


FETICH  ISM. 


55 


he  himself  may  elect.  The  old 
Chitome,  having  been  by  this  act  of 
high-handed  violence  put  out  of  the 
way,  his  assassin  is  now  Chitome, 
(le  roi  est  mort :  vive  le  roi  !)  and  the 
universe  is  safe.*  The  Chitome  is 
himself  a  fetich :  all  other  fetich- 
priests  base  their  authority  upon  the 
fetiches  they  possess,  as  do  those  of 
Whida,  for  instance,  upon  the  Holy 
Serpent.  Among  the  Kramantees  a 
priest's  successor  is  always  that  one  of 
his  sons  who  has  the  courage  to  take 
out  of  his  dying  father's  mouth  cer- 
tain kernels,  and  to  put  them  at  once 
into  his  own. 

Since  the  priests,  by  their  conjuring 
arts,  can  do  what  they  please,  the  peo- 
ple, when  want  or  calamity  oppresses 
them,  attribute  all  their  woes  to  the 
malice  of  their  spiritual  rulers.  If 
they  can  but  make  away  with  the 
assumed  cause,  they  believe  that  the 
effect  will  cease  :  and  thus  the  belief 
in  the  power  of  the  priest,  which  be- 
fore brought  him  only  advantage,  now 
turns  to  his  injury.  The  princes  of 
the  Kaffirs  put  to  death  all  the  con- 
jurers they  can  lay  hold  of,  whenever 
the  country  is  visited  by  an  obstinate 
and  dangerous  epidemic.t  The 
Chiquites  of  Paraguay,  having  dis- 
covered that  the  priests  do  more  mis- 
chief than  good,  exterminated  them 
en  masse.  Still  they  continued  in  the 
belief  that  all  diseases  .are  brought 
on  by  magical  arts.  Lest,  therefore, 
the  people  should  be  deprived  in 
sickness  of  the  assistance  which  used 
to  be  rendered  by  the  conjurers  the 
chiefs  now  practice  the  healing  art, 
using  the  same  forms  previously 
used  by  the  priests.  X  The  extraor- 
dinary power  wielded  by  the  priests, 
makes  them  very  bloodsuckers  and 
tyrants;  and  the  only  remedy  against 
their  despotism  is  when  the  downtrod- 


*  Cavazzi,  I.  254. 

t  Sparmann,  R.  nach  dem  Vorgebirge  der 
guten  Hoffmung  im  Jahre,  1772  (tr.  from  the 
Swedish).  S.  198,  199.  The  Patagonians  act- 
ed in  like  manner,  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
small-pox:  Falkner,  p.  117  ;  Barrere,  Beschr. 
von  Guiana.  Gotting.  Samml.  v.  Reisen,  II. 
159. 

X  Lettr.  edif.  Nouv.  Ed.  VIII.  339-345. 


den  people  break  their  fetters,  and  take 
a  fearful  revenge.  The  arrogance  of 
the  priests  of  Whida  led  them  to  form 
a  conspiracy  against  the  king.  But 
now  the  people  forgot  that  a  priest's 
person  is  sacred:  the  magnates  of 
the  kingdom,  with  one  accord,  rose  to 
defend  their  prince,  and  a  general 
and  bloody  persecution  of  the  guilty 
priesthood  was  commenced.* 

But  the  influence  of  the  priest  ex- 
tends not  alone  to  great  affairs  but 
even  to  the  trifling  concerns  of  pri- 
vate life.  A  man  cannot  take  pos- 
session of  a  hut  until  it  has  first  been 
exorcised  of  the  powers  of  evil  by  the 
priest.  For  this  purpose  he  must 
dwell  in  it  for  a  season,  purifying 
it  by  thurifications,  and  consecrating 
it  to  some  guardian  fetich. f  In  Con- 
go he  gives  his  sanction  to  marriage 
by  giving  to  the  pair  two  hens,  to 
be  dressed  by  bride  and  bridegroom 
respectively ;  that  dressed  by  the 
bride  to  be  eaten  by  the  groom  and 
vice  versa.%  When  the  wife  finds 
herself  enceinte  she  places  herself 
and  her  unborn  child  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  fetich.  "  In  Western 
Africa  she  makes  an  offering  to  the 
priest  of  a  flagon  of  rum,  and  a 
certain  quantity  of  cowries,  and  in 
return  he  fastens  around  her  arm 
a  bracelet  made  of  the  tail-feathers 
of  a  parrot."  §  "Between  the  10th 
and  the  12th  year  of  their  age  the 
children  are  consecrated  by  the  fe- 
tich-priest. The  children  to  be  con- 
secrated assemble  around  the  fetich- 
tree  of  their  neighborhood,  and  then 
the  priest  offers  to  the  fetich  a  white 
hen,  by  cutting  off  its  head  and 
suffering  the  blood  to  drop  on  the 
ground.  He  then  distributes  the 
feathers  among  the  children,  who 
form  a  circle  all  round,  and  lights 
a  fire  to  prepare  the  hen  for  the 
fetich.  The  fetich  gets  a  small  por- 
tion and  the  remainder  is  taken  to 
the  house  of  the  priest.  With  shouts 
and  songs  they  then  proceed  to  the 


*  Bosmann,  S.  463  seq. 

t  Bastian,  78. 

X  Bastian,  88.     Cf.  Lover,  p.  152. 

§  Halleur,  S.  29. 


I  I    II'    III.s.M. 


bathing  place,  where  the  priest  I 
washes  the  neophytes  and  marks 
each  « ith  a  white  siripu.  The  1 1  r 
emony  concludes  with  shouting  and 
singing  "  "  Education,  su<  h  as  it  is. 
mtrolled  by  the  priests, 
ry  year  the  priests  assemble 
the  boys  who  are  entering  the  state 
of  puberty,  and  take  them  into  the 
There  they  settle,  and  form 
an  independent  commonwealth,  un- 
der very  strict  regulations,  however: 
and  every  offense  against  the  rules 
is  sternly  punished.  The  wound 
given  in  circumcision  commonly 
heals  in  one  week,  yet  they  remain 
in  the  woods  for  a  period  of  six' 
months,  cut  off  from  all  intercourse 
with  the  outside  world,  and  in  the 
meanwhile  each  receives  separate 
instruction  how-  to  prepare  his  med- 
icine-bag. Forever  after  each  one  is 
mystically  united  with  the  fetich  who 
presides  over  his  life.  Even  their 
nearest  relatives  are  not  allowed  to 
visit  the  hoys  in  this  retreat;  and 
women  are  threatened  with  the  sever- 
est punishment  if  '.hey  be  only  found 
in  the  neighborhood  of  a  forest  con- 
taining such  a  boy-colony.  When 
the  priest  declares  the  season  of 
probation  at  an  end,  the  boys  return 
home,  and  are  welcomed  back  with 
great  rejoicings."!  The  children  are 
subjected  completely  to  the  power 
of  the  priests,  and  the  latter  appear 
sometimes  to  give  this  power  a  highly 
mystical  expression.  Bastian  thus 
recounts  what  he  heard  in  Quindilu 
from  the  lips  of  an  interpreter: 

"  In  the  country  of  Ambamba  each 
n   must  die  once,  and  come    to 
again.      Accordingly   when    a  fe- 
tich-priest shakes  his    calabash    at  a 
village,  those  men   and   youths  whose 
hour    has  come,   fall    into  a  state   of 
death-like    torpor,    from    which     they 
ver  usually  in  the  course  of  three 
days.      I!ut   if  there   is    any   one    that 
the    fetich    loves,   him    he   takes   into 
the   bush    and    buries   in   the   fetich- 
house.     ( Oftentimes  In-  remains  buried 


* //:  30.     Cf.  Waitz,  I.  365. 

t  Bastian,  85. 


s  of  years.  When  he 
comes  to  life  again,  lie  begins  to  eat 
and  drink  as  before,  but  his  reason 
is  -one,  and  the  t <  1  icli man  is  obliged 
tin  him,  and  instruct  him  in  the 
simplest  bodily  movements,  like  a 
little  child.  At  first  the  stick  is  the 
only  instrument  of  education,  but 
gradually  his  senses  come  back  to 
him,    and    he    begins    to    speak.       \s 

soon  .is  his  education  is  finished  the 

priest  restores  him  to  his  parents. 
They  seldom  recognize  their  son.  but 
accept  the  express  assurance  of  the 
feticero,  who  also  reminds  them  of 
events  in  the  past.  In  Ambamba 
a  man  who  has  not  passed  through 
the  process  of  dying  and  coming  to 
lite  again  is  held  in  contempt,  nor  is 
lie  permitted  to  join  in  the  dam 
bastian  adds  that  the  liatheniers  of 
tin;  Sheikh  Al-Gebal,  in  Bamba,  are 
subjected  to  a  similar  course  of  treat- 
ment. 

Nor  are  adults  exempt  from  the 
power  of  the  priest.  When  the  fetich 
demands  the  consecration  of  persons 
to  his  service  these  may  be  chosen, 
as  in  Loango,  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  In  that  kingdom  "annually  a 
stated  number  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  12  years  of  age,  are  dedi- 
cated by  the  chief  of  the  (langas 
to  the  fetich  Maramba.  These  then 
keep  a  fast  for  several  days  in  a  dark 
hut,  and  are  then  dismissed  with  the 
admonition  to  observe  strict  silence 
for  eight  days.  Torture  is  employed 
to  test  their  resolution:  but  if  this 
fails,  and  they  refuse  to  open  their 
mouths,  the  Ganga  conducts  them  to 
the  presence  of  the  idol,  and  there 
making  a  crescent-shaped  incision  on 
the  shoulder,  requires  them  to  swear, 
by  the  blood  which  flows  from  the 
wound,  that  they  will  be  ever  true 
to  Maramba.  He  forbids  them  the 
use  of  certain  meats,  imposes  upon 
them  certain  vows,  and  hangs  around 
their  necks,  as  a  token  of  their  con- 
secration, a  little  case  containing 
relics."  t     Persons    thus   devoted    to 


*  Bastian,  82. 
t  It.  S6. 


FETICHISM. 


the  fetich  are,  according  to  Halleur, 
inviolable  :  "  They  may  do  what  they 
please,  and  may  take  what  they  wish  : 
it  is  death  to  refuse  them  anything." 
The  only  drawback  is  that  every  year 
a  few  of  them  are  offered  in  sacri- 
fice.* 

The  priests  are  the  Sages.  Their 
science  expatiates  over  the  entire 
field  of  fetichism  and  gives  the  rules 
for  the  preparation  and  application 
of  fetiches  ;  the  formulas  of  incanta- 
tion ;  the  methods  of  performing  jug- 
gling tricks  :  the  doctrine  of  souls 
and  spirits  and  the  rites  of  worship. 
Finallv,  their  science  embraces  a 
knowledge  of  history  and  of  juris- 
prudence, as  we  have  seen, — a  diffi- 
cult course  of  study  for  the  dull  brain 
of  the  savage,  who  strives  dumb- 
founded to  grasp  the  profound 
thoughts,  and  the  lucid  definitions 
of  his  Master.  Thus,  e.g.  '"the  dis- 
tinctions between  Spirit  and  Soul  ; 
their  relations  with  the  body,  their 
pre-existence  and  their  future  exist- 
ence are  as  nicely  defined,  as  the 
functions  of  the  three  Spiritus  famil- 
iares  in  Cornelius  Agrippa."'  t  As 
is  ever  the  case  when  the  mind  is 
constantly  occupied  in  the  contem- 
plation of  one  object,  the  priest,  who 
is  ever  engaged  with  his  fetich,  en- 
larges and  develops  the  primitive 
conception  of  the  thing.  He  origi- 
nates a  multitude  of  new  fetiches, 
and  proposes  them  for  the  veneration 
of  the  common  people,  who  take 
them  up  greedily.  He  elaborates  dis- 
tinctions and  definitions,  classifica- 
tions and  systems:  in  his  hands  the 
popular  belief  assumes  scientific 
shape.  It  cannot  be  uninteresting 
to  study  minutely  this  dogmatic  the- 
ology of  the  savage  :  but  we  must 
not  expect  to  find  here  anything  like 
logical  consequence  ;  for  the  savage. 
even  though  he  dogmatize,  is  still 
a  savage,  and  consequently  his  most 
elaborate  system  will  be  simply  no 
system.  As  was  to  be  expected,  the 
various  svstems  of  Africa  and  Amer- 


*  Halleur,  32. 

t  Bastian,  83,  Aum. 


ica  differ  very  widely  from  one  an- 
other. Of  course  also  the  adherents 
of  the  different  schools  do  not  reduce 
their  controversies  to  a  courtly  war 
of  words,  as  is  our  custom  ;  they  pre- 
fer to  demonstrate  their  theses  by 
hard  knocks.  Such  debates  are  not 
infrequent,  and  many  a  skull  is 
cracked  in  the  heat  of  argument. 
Thus,  during  Cavazzi's  stay  in  Con- 
go, two  schools  of  doctors,  the  Ma- 
cusa-Matamba  and  the  Ngulungu- 
Nbazi,  were  continually  at  war,  be- 
cause they  adhered  to  two  different 
systems  of  medication.*  Similar  dis- 
putes divided  the  doctors  of  the  Abi- 
pones,  as  also  the  piaches  (conjurers) 
of  the  Caribs.f  . 

The  common  people,  of  course, 
know  nothing  of  fetichistic  science. 
The  notions  peculiar  to  that  science 
are  as  little  comprehended  by  them 
as  the  nice  points  of  dogmatic  the- 
ology are  understood  by  the  masses 
here.  Hence  the  very  terminology 
of  the  savage  savant  is  unintelligible 
to  the  savage  layman.  The  feticeros 
among  the  Negro  tribes,  as  also  the 
Angekoks  of  the  Greenlanders  are 
said  to  have  a  language  peculiar  to 
themselves,  which  is  entirely,  or  in 
great  part,  unintelligible  to  lay  folk.t 
Even  our  common  people  do  not 
understand  the  language  of  the  learn- 
ed. The  Dakota  priests  use  a  pe- 
culiar language  ;  the  words  are  those 
of  the  common  language  of  their 
nation,  but  employed  in  a  sense  dif- 
ferent from  that  commonly  given  to 
them.  The  chiefs  also  use  this  es- 
oteric language,  in  order  to  keep  the 
common  folk  out  of  their  secrets. § 
In  New  Zealand,  Tahiti,  Hawaii  and 


*  Cf.  Bastian,  202. 

1  Dobrizhofer,  II.  84;  Du  Tertre,  II.  386: 
S'il  arrive,  qu'  une  personne  invite  plusieurs 
Boyez  (pioches)  et  qu'ils  fassent  venir  cha- 
cun  leur  dieu,  c'est  pire  que  la  diablerie  de 
Chaumont  car  ces  diables  s'entredispu- 
tent,  et  se  clisent  mille  injures,  et  mime,  au 
dire  des  Sauvages,  s'entrebattent  si  rude>- 
ment,  etc. 

X  Romer,  S.  So  ft. ;  Cranz,  273  ;  H.  Egede 
(Bishop  of  Greenland),  Beschr.  von  Gron- 
land.  S.  122.     Cf.  Bastian,  153. 

§  Rigg's  Grammar  and  Diet,  of  the  Da- 
kota lang.     Washington,  1S52.     Cf  Waitz. 


II    IK   IllsM. 


■  nd    also   a   sa<  n  d 
language  —  th<  use   this    lan- 

hough  the)   now  understand 
it  only  impi  i 

l.  ■   propagate    the    knowledge 

the  priests  are  •'  usu- 
ally  attended    by   a    number  of   dis- 

s,  who  prepare  the  fetiches,  and 
w  ho  exp<  ■  eed  their  masters." 

"Women  \\h"  have  long  been  barren, 
or  who  have  lost  their  children,  are 
wont  to  dedicate  i<>  the  sen 
the  feti<  h  tin-  unborn  fruit  of  the 
womb,  and  to  present  to  the  village 
priest  the  new-born  babe.     I  le  exer- 

3  it.  at  an  early  age,  in  those 
wild    dances   with    deafening   drum- 

impaniment,  by  means  of  which 
he  is  accustomed  to  gain  the  requi- 
site degree  of  spiritual  exaltation; 
and  in  later  years  he  instructs  his 
pupil  in  the  art  of  understanding, 
whilst  his  frame  is  racked  with  con- 
vulsions, the  inspirations  of  the  de- 
mon,  and  of  giving  fitting  responses 
to  questions  proposed."!  The  Sha- 
mans, too.  have  their  disciples;  and 
Negro  priests  receive  fees  for  instruc- 
tion in  their  magical  arts. J 

This  priestly  science,  which  makes 
its  possessors  men  of  redoubtable 
power,  is  kept  a  secret  among  them- 
selves. It  is  only  for  the  Initiated. 
I  laving  thus  doctrines  in  common,  and 
being  attached  to  one  system,  the 
priests  constitute  a  society  apart,  a 
fraternity  ;  an  order,  whose  secrets  are 
known  only  to  the  initiated,  and 
whose  mysterious  power  inspires  the 
uninitiated  with  fear  and  terror.  Such 
secret  associations  of  priests  are 
found  in  the  organized  priestly  classes 
of  Cabendc  and  Loango.§  "To  the 
South   of  Congo,  we   find   a  complete 

h-svstem    only    in    Bamba.     The 
king   of   Bamba,  who    was   once    the 
generalissimo  of  the  kingdom  ol 
go,  now  lives  in  an  almost  inaccessible 


'Thomson,  Story  of  \".  Zealand.     Lond. 
I. No;  Chamisso, 46 ;  Moerenhout,  273 ; 

Amy.  aox    iles   cln   grand   ocean.     Par.   1837, 
J    484.  d.  \\  aitz,  \  .  z,  226  ff. 

'  Bastian,  85,  100. 

. .  azzi,  1 1.  220,  I.  2^4. 

£  Bastian,  81. 


mountain  district,  entirely  isolated 
from  Portuguese  influent  e,  and  1  er- 
mits  no  foreigner  to  entei  his  banza. 
1  fere  19,  found  one  ol  those  s\st<ms ,,t 
religious  mystery  whii  h  ex<  1 
fearful  an  influence  along  the  western 

•  oast  from  <  'ameroons  as  far  as  the 
( Iambi.  1.*'       The  i  entral  object  in  this 

system  is  the  Grand    Fetich,  already 

mentioned,  who  lives  in  the  heart  of 
the  bush,  perfectly  inai  <  essible  to  all. 
who  •' usually  conceals   the   mysteries 

of  his  worship  in  some  remote  cavern, 

but  who  also  reserves  to  himself  some 
localities  lying  near  the  highway,  so 
as  to  remind  terrified  wayfarers  of  his 
power  as  often  as  they  see  the  tokens 
of  his  occupancy."  *  In  America  too 
similar  mystic  fraternities  are  found. 

New  members  are  admitted  only 
after  a  noviceship  and  probation  of 
from  one  to  ten  years.  When  the 
candidate  has  given  evidence  of  his 
fitness  for  promotion,  by  his  observ- 
ance of  protracted  fasts, by  the  per- 
formance of  the  frantic  dances,  by  the 
violence  of  his  convulsive  paroxysms, 
and  by  drinking  tobacco-juice,  he  is 
advanced  by  due  degrees  to  full  mem- 
bership. Among  the  (aribs,  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  Piaches  receive  full  con- 
secration as  priests  only  after  they  haw- 
attained  the  age  of  30  or  35  years. 

The  brethren  form  an  alliance  for 
mutual  protection  and  defense,  and 
their  fidelity  to  one  another  is  assured 
by  the  fact  that  the  apostate  is  pursued 
with  unrelenting  hate.t  The  Dakota 
Indians  have  similar  associations. 
whose  mysteries  consist  of  dances 
known  only  to  the  initiated. t 

The  barbarous  style  in  which  these 
mysteries  are  celebrated,  and  instruc- 
tion conveyed  to  the  candidates, may 
be  seen  from  the  account  which 
Bastian  gives  ol  the  Yagas:  "Sosoon 
as  the  death  of  the  Yaga  at  Cassange 
became  known  throughout  the  coun- 
try, the  people  and  the  Maquitas 
gathered  around  his  coYpse,  which  was 


*  lb.  82,  50. 

i  Vide  Carver,  p.  272;  Charlevoix,  J63J 
I  >u  Tertre,  II.  367  seq.;  Biet,  III.  IV.  3S6, 3S7  ; 
Lafiteau,  I.  336-344. 

I  Keating,  I.  2S3. 


FETICHISM. 


59 


seated  on  a  high  throne,  arrayed  in 
the  feather-ornaments  proper  to  a 
prince,  and  holding  in  its  hand  the 
Rilunga.  They  begged  him  to  name 
his  successor.  Amid  the  din  of  up- 
roarious music,  the  spirit  of  the  de- 
ceased entered  into  the  representative 
of  the  family  of  the  Tendallas,  who 
was  lineally  descended  from  the 
brother  of  the  founder  of  the  kingdom, 
and.  in  the  ecstasy  of  wild  inspira- 
tions, guided  his  hand  to  select  the 
Chosen  One  out  of  the  entire  assembly. 
At  once  all  the  priests  surrounded  the 
Yaga-elect,  and  carried  him  off  into 
the  gloomy  recesses  of  a  distant 
forest,  into  which  a  layman  could  pen- 
etrate only  at  the  cost  of  his'life.  In 
the  mean  time  Magnates  attended  to 
the  funeral  rites  of  the  dead  Yaga, 
and  after  breaking  out  a  tooth, 
which  was  regarded  as  something 
holy,  they  immured  the  body  together 
with  two  of  the  favorite  wives  of  the 
deceased,  in  a  sepulchre  previously 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  a  boy  and 
a  girl.  The  new  Yaga,  while  receiv- 
ing instructions  in  the  fearful  myster- 
ies of  the  Catondos,  was  obliged  to 
witness  dark  deeds  of  murder,  so 
that  his  heart  would  not  shudder  at 
the  contact  of  death,  and  was  taught 
the  poisonous  and  medicinal  properties 
of  herbs.  At  the  end  of  one  year  he 
entered  upon  his  office.  All  workmen 
who  understand  anything  of  the  build- 
er's art  assemble  to  erect  for  him  a 
palace.  But  before  the  work  can  be 
commenced,  blood  must  be  shed,  to 
give  firmness  to  the  foundation-stone  , 
and  the  one  who  is  chosen  to  be  the 
victim  has  his  eyes  and  mouth  care- 
fully bandaged,  lest  a  look  or  a  cry 
should  excite  the  compassion  of  the 
Yaga — for  the  slightest  emotion  of 
human  feeling  would  break  the  spell, 
and  bring  down  upon  his  head  the 
wrath  of  his  forefathers.  His  breast 
is  steeled  against  pity ;  the  head,  as 
it  is  struck  off,  rolls  into  the  stream, 
and  the  Yaga  walks  four  times  through 
the  pool  of  blood  which  has  flowed 
from  the  victim,  and  washes  therein 
his  feet  and  his  whole  person.  He 
then    plants    his   banner  on  the  spot 


where  his  throne  is  to  stand,  and  work 
on  the  palace  begins.  *  When  it  is 
completed,  the  new  Yaga  shows  him- 
self to  the  people,  who  receive  him 
with  loud  cheering.  On  the  evening 
of  the  third  day  the  prince  (Yaga) 
summons  the  magnates  to  his  resi- 
dence, and  then  takes  place  that  ban- 
quet, of  which  we  have  already  made 
mention,  where  by  partaking  in  com- 
i  mon  of  human  flesh  they  are  bound 
'  to  one  another  by  an  inviolable  fe- 
tich."* 

Among  the  American    Indians   the 
religious  mvsteries  of  the  various  or- 
j  ders    and  secret  associations  of  the 
priests  are  held  in  the  highest  venera- 
i  tion ;  but  they  lay  most  stress   upon 
I  the  art  of  conjuring  spirits.     School- 
t  craft    mentions    three    such    associa- 
\  tions,   the  Jossakeed,  the  Meda  (Me- 
day,  Mide )  and  the  Wabeno :  the  sec- 
ond of  which    is    best  known.     "  To 
the  Meday  belong  individuals  of  differ- 
ent   tribes    and  tongues  :  all  are  ad- 
mitted without  distinction   to   the  as- 
sembly (of  the  Order)  provided  they 
are  acquainted  with  the    Meday   rit~ 
ual.|     The  chief  festival  of  the  order 
is  the  Medawin  ,  which,  however,  the 
Sioux  keep  in  a  manner  slightly  dif- 
ferent  from    the    Chippeways.     The 
songs  sung  at  this  festival  are  pre- 
served   in    symbolic    pictures    which 
form  a  secret  written  language.    These 
-  writings  can  be  deciphered  only  by 
|  the  initiated,  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  true  signification  of  the  pictures 
and  who  know  the  songs  by  heart,  the 
symbols   serving    merely    to    suggest 
|  their    general    tenor.     The    right   of 
membership  in  this  association,  which 
j  is  granted  even  to  young  children,  is 
conferred  in  a  hut  specially  built  for 
:  the    purpose.      On    this  .occasion    a 
•  priest    makes    an    oration    upon    the 
I  goodness   of  the   Great    Spirit ;  then 
follows  a  procession  of  the  members 
in  a  circle,  with  their  medicine-bags, 
:  and    the    candidate    receives   in    the 
face  a  puff   of  air   from    out    of   the 
bags.     The  power  of  the   conjuring- 

*  Bastian,  1 50-1 ,4. 

t  Copway,  Traditional  Hist,  of  the  Ojibway 
j  Nation.     Lond.  1850,  p.   168. 


i  i.ik  n i > m . 


devil   thus  prostrates  him  as  though 

he  were  dead  :  l>m  another  pufl   re- 

him.     I  le  then  gets  a  medicine- 

:  his  own  ;  with  it  is  conferred 
on  him  the  powei  ol  a  Meday  :  and 
he  at  once  puts  his  power  lo  the  test, 
touching   others   with    the   medicine- 

which  causes  them  to  fall  pros- 
trate. When  the  candidate  is  a  child 
he  is  set  before  ea<  li  of  the  medicine- 
bags  in  turn,  and  he  gets  a  new  name 
in  addition  to  his  own.  which  he  ever 
after  bears  as  a  member  ol  the  soi  i- 
ety."« 

rhe  power  ol  these  secret  associa- 
tions is  so  great  that,  like  the  Vehm- 
-    ht,    their    judgments    and    their 
penalties,   which   arc   ever    executed 
with  promptness  and  vigor,  affect  not 

■  their  own  members,  but  the 
people  in  general.  They  constitute 
an  invisible  police,  that  with  its  thou- 
sand eves  beholds  every  hidden  thing, 
and  in  the  face  of  which  no  man  con- 
siders himself  secure.  The  effec- 
tiveness of  the  police  of  Old  Calabar, 
administered  by  the  Kgboords,  has 
sometimes  led  European  police-cap- 
tains to  seek  admission  into  the  lower 
grades; t  for  all.  even  slaves,  may 
purchase  admission,  though  the  latter 
can  enter  only  the  inferior  grades. 
<  )n  the  great  festival  of  Egbo,  masked 
men  go  about  the  streets,  armed  with 
whips,  drag  offenders  forth  from  their 
hiding-plai  es  and  inflict  punishment. 
(  >n  that  day  women  arc  not  permitted 
to  quit  their  houses.  The  power  of 
the  order  is  felt  along  the  Gold  Coast 
and  the  Slave  Coast.}  The  terror  of 
the  Vehmgericht  of  the  Belli-Paaro 
was  spread  throughout  the  old  king- 
dom of  Quoja.      Now  members  were 

ted  only  every  twenty-five  years, 
to    keep   up  the  association.     Those 

who  were  (  ited  tO  appear  before  this 
tribunal  appeared  thickly  veiled,  for  a 
fearful  death  awaited  whosoever  with 
unhallowed  eves  looked  on  the  spirits 
who  surrounded  him  there.  When 
alter    thn  of    novitiate    (con- 

hoolcraf t,  V.  430  seqq. ;  Kohl,  I.  59,  II. 
71  ;   Wait/,  III.  215. 
t  Bastian, 
\  Holman,  I.  392. 


cerning  which  the  most  direful  stories 
1  urreni    among    the    common 

people)    the    new    adept    was    for    the 

first  time  suffered  to  quit  the  gloomy 

forest  and  lo  see  the  light  of  the  sun', 
he  made  himself  known  to  the  M 
of  the  Society  as  a  Brother  by  execut- 
ing the  figures  of  the  belli  dance. 
I  b-  then  took  the  brotherhood's  "  oath 
ol  veng 

We  cannot  determine  whether,  or 
how  far,  die  African  I'm  ra  and  Semo 
assoi  re  of  a  religious  nature. 

Wait/  gives  this  description  of  tin  m  : 
"Among  die  Mandingoes,  especially 
those  in  the  region  of  Sherbro.  the 
Wis.  the  Timmanis  and  other  tribes, 
die  I '111: a  association  takes  a  very 
important  part  in  the  administration 
of  justice.  The  Purra  is  a  secret(  so- 
ciety, the  nature  of  which  is  still  ob- 
scure :  so  much  however  is  known, 
that  it  is  a  kind  of  secret  police,  a 
t  tribunal,  punishing  theft,  witch- 
craft and  other  secret  misdeeds.  Its 
ministers  go  masked,  and  surprise 
and  seize  culprits  by  night.  Natur- 
ally this  occasions  grave  abuses,  still 
no  man  durst  make  any  resistance. 
The  society  requires  absolute  obedi- 
ence from  its  members  and  is  made 
up  of  warriors  divided  into  sundry 
classes.  If  any  one  by  chance  conies 
to  a  knowledge  of  their  secrets,  lie  is 
adopted  a  member  by  a  terrible  cere- 
monial, and  threatened  with  death, 
should  he  divulge  anything.  Two 
parallel  lines  tattooed  on  the  body 
are  the  insignia  of  membership.  The 
Purra  has  also  been  described  as  a 
common  federal  tribunal  having  juris- 
diction over  different  nations,  and 
whose  judgment  is  invoked  in  case  of 
quarrels.  The  Purra  then  acts  as 
judge  or  as  mediator,  and  taking  sides 
witii  one  or  other  of  the  parties,  de- 
1  ides  the  quarrel.  The  Semo  among 
the  Susus  appears  to  resemble  the 
Puna,  and  to  have  a  similar  purpose. 
The  Semo  has  a  sacred  language  pe- 
culiar to  itself.  Though  Caillie  *  has 
written  a  Ion":  account  of  this  associa- 


te   fourn.  d'un  Vby.  a  Tcmboctou, 
124-28),  I.  228. 


FETICHISM. 


61 


tion,  still  we  know  absolutely  nothing 
of  its  true  nature."  *     (Waitz,  II.  135. 1 

6.  Fetich >sm  among  Non- Savages. 

The  human  mind,  in  its  various 
stages  of  progress,  must  always  exhibit 
phenomena  answering  to  the  degree  of 
development  to  which  it  has  attained. 
Even  where  a  higher  grade  of  intelli- 
gence generally  prevails,  still  the 
lower  grades  will  not  be  entirely  ex- 
cluded, for  the  whole  community  will 
not  have  reached  the  same  degree  of 
development,  individuals  differing 
from  one  another  very  widely  in  this 
respect.  Even  in  civilized  countries 
vou  will  find  those  who  are  essentially 
no  better  than  Bushmen  or  Negroes 
in  point  of  mental  culture,  albeit  in 
outward  seeming  they  differ  as  widely 
from  the  savage  as  our  world  differs 
from  that  of  the  Bushman.  The  dif- 
ference between  the  fetich-worshiper 
kut  ii<>x>]r  and  the  fetich-worshiper  as 
he  is  found  in  civilized  countries  is 
just  this  :  the  former  is  simply,  or  at 
least  primarily,  a  fetichist,  but  the 
latter  is  primarily  something  different, 
though  secondarily  he  is  a  fetichist. 
He  would  be  as  thorough  a  fetichist 
as  the  other,  were  it  not  that  he  is 
something  else  besides  a  fetichist, 
and  so  his  energies  cannot  all  tend  to 
fetichism.       Our    next    chapter    will 

*  Winterbottom,  180  seqq. ;  Golberrv,  R. 
durch  das  W.  Afr.  ([S03)  I.  56;  Laing,  88 
seqq.;  Forbes,  Six  Months  in  Sierra  Leone 
(( lei.  Tr.)  S.  84.  Cf.  Caesar,  B.  G.  VI.  13, 14 : 
Fere  de  omnibus  controversiis  publicis  pri- 
vatisque  constituunt  ;  et  si  quod  est  admis- 
suni  facinus,  si  caedes  facta;  si  de  hereditate, 
de  finibus  controversia,  iidem  concernunt, 
proemia  pcenasque  constituunt.  .  .  .  Hi  certo 
auni  tempore  in  finibus  Carnutum,  que  regio 
totius  Gallia?  media  habetur,  considunt  in 
loco  consecrato:  hue  omnes  undique,  qui 
controversias  habent,  conveniunt,  eorumque 
decretis  judiciisque  parent.  Si  quis  aut 
privatus  aut  publicus  eorum  decreto  non 
steterit,  sacrificiis  interdicunt.  Haec  poena 
apud  eos  est  gravissima.  .  .  .  Druides  a 
bello  abesse  consueverunt,  neque  tributa  una 
cum  reliquis  pendunt ;  militia?  vocationum 
omniumque  rerum  habent  immunitatem. 
These  Druids  were  also  soothsayers,  physi- 
cians, conjurers,  etc.  Cf.  Tacitus  Ann. 
XIV.  30;  Hist.  IV.  54;  Germ.  7,  11  ;  Plin. 
Hist.  Natur.  XXX.  4. 


treat  of  the  fetichism  which  prevailed 
among  our  heathen  forefathers. 

Here  are  a  few  examples.  Suppose 
a  hunter  has  repeatedly  met  with  ex- 
traordinary good-luck  in  the  chase 
when  he  wore  in  his  hat  a  conspicu- 
ously beautiful  feather,  and  that,  on  a 
few  occasions  when  the  feather  was 
wanting,  he  had  no  success  at  all.  He 
will  in  the  future,  for  luck,  plant  such 
a  feather  in  his  hat.  Now  the  hunter 
will  have  his  faith  in  the  potency  of 
his  fetich  increased  in  proportion  as 
his  assurance  of  good  luck,  which  he 
gets  from  the  sight  of  the  feather  and 
his  conviction  of  its  efficacy,  increases 
his  confidence  in  himself,  and  so  adds 
to  his  dexterity  :  possunt,  quia  posse 
videntur.  Some  people  take  an  um- 
brella with  them,  so  that  it  ?nay  not 
rain.  In  short  we  need  but  run  over 
the  list  of  our  popular  superstitions, 
in  order  to  see  how  far  the  fetichistic 
apprehension  of  object  still  endures 
amongst  us.  Thus,  for  instance,  on 
every  page  of  the  Appendix  to 
Grimm's  "  Mythologie  "  we  meet  with 
fetichism  displaying  all  its  character- 
istic features.  I  select  only  the  fol- 
lowing instances: 

Useful  fetiches  :  "  If  a  man  finds  a 
horseshoe,  or  a  piece  of  one,  he  is  in 
luck.*  He  who  takes  in  a  large  sum 
of  money  must  mix  with  it  a  quantity 
of  chalk,  and  then  wicked  people  can- 
not take  it  back.  (The  fetich  as  care- 
taker.f)  If  a  man  eats  a  raw  egg  on 
Christmas  morning,  he  will  be  able  to 
carry  heavy  loads.  Swallows'  nests 
and  crickets  bring  good  luck  to  a 
house.  If  one  finds  a  treasure,  he 
must  not  cover  it  over  with  any  gar- 
ment used  to  cover  the  body,  or  he  is 
a  dead  man  :  he  must  cover  it  with  a 
pocket  handkerchief,  or  with  a  crust 
of  bread.  Chase  a  hen  thrice  around 
a  table,  and  mix  with  her  food  frag- 
ments of  wood  from  three  corners  of 
a  table,  and  she  will  stay  at  home. 
Fetich  •  medicine  :  Rain  water  will 
make  children  speak  at  an  early  age. 
A  pulled  tooth  is  to  be  driven  into  a 


*  Grimm,  I).  M.  Anhang.  Nr.  129. 
\  lb.  Nr.  5. 


FETN  MI.vM. 


young  tree,  and  i  overed  with  the  bark. 
1 1  the  tree  be  cut  down,  the  ache  comes 
Ii  you  break  .1  tw ig  off  a  \\ il- 
and  drive  it  into  the  aching  tooth 
.   the  blood  <  omes,  and  then  re- 
al to  its    place,  drawing 
the  bark  over  it,  the  toothache  goes 
away.     The  head  of  a  mouse,  bitten 
•  im   the  body,  <>r  cut   of!  with  a 
knife  ol  gold,  assists  a  child  in  teeth- 
ing, when  it  is   hung  about  his  neck. 
It  one    is  troubled  with  catarrh,  let 
him  drink  a  glass  of  water  with  a  three- 
pronged   fork.     To   cure   debility   in 
children:  their  urine  is  to  be  caught 

in    a  new    pot  :    into    this  is  to  be    put 

the  egg  of  a  coal-black  hen  bought 
without    chaffering:    the    egg   to   be 

pierced  with  nine  holes:  the  pot, 
wrapped  in  a  linen  cloth,  to  he  buried 
after  sunset,  in  an  ant-hill  that  has 
been  discovered  without  search.  If 
any  one  afterward  find  the  pot,  he 
must  not  make  any  use  of  it,  else  he 
will  take  the  complaint  that  was 
buried.  Maleficent  fetiches :  It  is  un- 
lucky to  walk  over  sweepings.  Fetich 
oracles :  the  grave-digger's  mattock 
rattles  when  a  new  grave  is  to  be 
dug.  Charms  and  counter-charms  : 
If  one  goes  out  of  doors  unwashed,  he 
is  easily  bewitched.  Never  throw  into 
the  street  hair  that  has  come  out  in 
combing,  or  you  will  be  always  in  dan- 
ger from  witchcraft.  Old  women 
often  cut  out  a  sod  a  foot  long  that 
has  just  been  trod  by  their  enemy  : 
this  they  hang  up  in  the  chimney,  and 
so  cause  their  enemy  to  pine  away. 
The  whirlwind  is  caused  by  witches  : 
throw  a  knife  into  the  whirl  and  you 
will  see  them  at  work.  Witches  i  an 
produce  rain  and  thunder  :  they  can 
also  raise  winds  to  <  any  off  linen  that 
is  bleaching,  and  hay  that  is  curing  in 
the  sun.  In  the  springtime  when  the 
cattle  are  first  driven  afield,  axes, 
hatchets,  saws  and  other  iron  imple- 
ments are  placed  before  the  door  of 
the  barn;  thus  the  cattle  are  guarded 
against  witchcraft.  When  water  is 
bewitched,  and  will  not  boil,  place  un- 
der the  pot  three  sticks  of  different 
kinds  of  wood.  A  shirt  spun  by  a 
girl  of  five  to  seven  years  of  age  is  a 


sure  protection  against  witchcraft.  If 
your  beast  has  been  bewifc  hed,  go  to 

the  stable  at  midnight,  and  you  will 
find  on  its  hark  a  straw  :  put  the  straw 
in  a  sack,  call  in  the  neighbors  and 

give  the  snL  a  thrashing:  the  sack 
will  then  be  seen  tO  swell  and  the  witch 
will    utter    a    shriek.       Our    ancestors 

did  not  compare  very  favorably  with 
s.i\  ages  :  their  treatment  of  w  itches 
was  more  cruel  than  the  ferocity  of 

any  savages  toward  their  conjuicis; 
and  the  blazing  fires  of  the  Christian 
middle  ages,  lighted  for  the  torturing 
of  witches,  were  supposed  to  be  the 
ministers  of  a  Holy  Spirit.  Such 
blasphemy  as  this  cannot  be  imputed 
to  tin-  savage.  When  we  call  to  mind 
the  rude  and  undeveloped  state  of  in- 
tellect in  which  fetichism  takes  its 
rise,  what  a  fearful  light  is  thrown  bv 
these  medieval  phenomena  upon  the 
intellectual  status  of  our  forefathers 
whom  it  is  still,  in  some  quarters,  the 
fashion  to  praise  and  to  admire! 
Shall  I  recount  the  pitiable  absurdi- 
ties, the  gossip  of  the  dairy  and  of 
the  spinning-room,  which  were  held 
by  judges  who  pored  day  and  night 
over  their  musty  folios  evidence  suf- 
ficient to  justify  them  in  tearing  away 
from  the  bosom  of  their  families,  in 
torturing  and  putting  to  death  with 
every  circumstance  of  cruelty,  weak 
old  women,  idiots  and  children  ? 
Need  I  recite  the  frantic  harangues 
which  called  for  the  kindling  of  fires 
in  the  market-places  of  universitv- 
towns,  and  which  occasioned  the 
death  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  in- 
nocent victims  ?  As  late  as  the  year 
1783  the  portentous  gleam  of  these 
fires  was  to  be  seen  in  Germany."  * 
And  who  is  to  assure  us  of  their  final 
extinction  ;  and  that  there  are  not  be- 
neath the  ashes  concealed  fires,  still 
living  and  full  of  danger,  which  may 
hurst  forth  in  flames  afresh,  carrying 
desolation  throughout  the  land  ?  For 
we  still  have  mighty  fetiches,  and 
these  act  in  Europe  precisely  as  they 
do  in  Africa. 

Plutarch  relates  that   the   Dictator 

*  Bastian,  93. 


FETICHISM. 


63 


Sulla  had  no  such  faith  in  any  god,   for  people,  when  a  saint  withheld  his 


as  in  a  little  image  of  Apollo  which 
he  constantly  wore  upon  his  breast. 
Suetonius  says  that  Nero  was  Relig- 
ionum  usquequaque  contemtor,  prae- 
ter  unius  deae  Syriae.  Hanc  mox  ita 
sprevit,  ut  urina  contaminaret,  alia 
superstitione  captus,  in  qua  sola  per- 
tinacissime  haesit.  Siquidem  icuncu- 
lam   puellarem,  cum  quasi  remedium 


assistance  in  time  of  need,  to  renounce 
his  service,  to  break  his  image  in 
pieces,  or  to  cast  it  into  a  river  or  a 
swamp.*  As  late  as  the  middle  of 
the  17th  century  some  Portuguese 
sailors  pronounced  dire  threats 
against  St.  Antony  of  Padua  during  a 
calm  :  they  would  have  bound  him 
hand  and  foot,  were  it  not  that  some 


insidiarum  a  plebeio  quodam  et  ignoto   one  came  to  his  assistance.     At  length 


muneri  accepisset,  detecta  confestim 
conjuratione,  pro  summo  Numine  trin- 
isque  in  die  sacrificiis  colere  perse- 
veravit :  volebatque  credi  monitione 
ejus  futura  praenoscere.* 

The  amulet  differs  from  the  fetich  in 
this,  that  here  the  sensible  object  is 
not  regarded  as  possessed  of  a  power 
■of  its  own  (for  then  it  would  be  a  fe- 
tich), but  only  as  the  representative 
symbol  of  some  higher  power,  which  is 
the  real  efficient  cause.  The  amulet 
therefore  points  back  to  a  train  of 
ideas  which  lie  behind  it :  the  fetich 
stands  upon  its  own  merits.  Thus,  for 
instance,    in     the    Arab's    amulet — a 


they  set  his  image  on  the  tip  of  the 
bowsprit  and  thus  addressed  it,  kneel- 
ing :  US.  Antony,  be  so  good  as  to 
stand  there  ever  till  you  give  us  a  fa- 
vorable wind, to  continue  our  voyage. "t 
A  Spanish  ship's  captain  fastened  a 
little  image  of  the  Virgin  to  the  mast, 
saying  she  should  remain  in  that  po- 
sition until  he  got  from  her  a  favora- 
ble wind. J  The  Neapolitans  once 
called  S.  Gennaro  vccchio  ladrone,  bir- 
bone,  scelerato,  because  he  had  not 
checked  a  stream  of  lava.  They  even 
cudgeled  the  saint.§  Some  Spanish 
peasants,  during  a  protracted  drought, 
threw   the  Virgin    into  a  pond,   and 


verse  from  the  Koran  on  a  strip  of  called  her  witch,  wench,  etc.  ||  When 
parchment — it  is  not  the  parchment  Russian  peasants  would  do  anything 
and  the  ink  that  produce  the  effect  he  j  unbecoming   in   the  presence  of  the 


desires,  but  the  omnipotence  of  Allah, 
of  which  the  writing  is  regarded  as 
the  sensible  sign.  But  yet  the  people, 
who  wear  such  amulets  as  a  protection 
against  the  powers  of  evil,  very  read- 
ily forget  this  distinction,  confound 
the  two  things,  and  regard  the  sensi- 
ble object  as  the  efficient  cause. 
Thus  the  amulet  becomes  a  fetich. 
The  Mohammedans  of  Senegambia 
Avrite  the  potent  verse  on  a  tablet,  then 


saints'  pictures,  they  cover  the  latter 
with  cloths,  to  prevent  their  witness- 
ing the  deed.iy  A  Russian  peasant, 
who  had  harvested  a  poorer  crop  than 
his  neighbor,  borrowed  from  the  latter 
his  holy  image,  and  mounted  it  on  his 
plow,  expecting  thus  to  have  better 
luck.**  To  this  day  Russian  peasants 
whip  saints'  images ;  to  this  day  im- 
ages of  the  Virgin  are  put  in  prison  by 
Italian  peasants,  precisely  as  the  Ne- 


they    wash    off   the    inscription,    and  j  gro  does  with   his  fetiches,  when    he 
drink    the    water,  f     Thus    again,    so  would  punish  them,  or  keep  them  from 
soon  as  the  working  of  miracles  is  as- {harming  him. ft 
sociated   with   the  image   of   a   saint, 
that    image   of   necessity   becomes  a 
fetich  ;  and  will  receive  from  its  wor- 
shipers   precisely    the    same    usage, 
which  other   fetiches    receive    at    the 
hands  of  savage  devotees.     In  medi- 
aeval times  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 


*  Suet.  Nero,  c.   56. 

t  Bastian,  197  ;  Waitz,  II.  187. 


*  Meiners,  I.  1S1. 

t  Delia  Valle,  Yoy.  VII.  409;  Meiners  ub. 
supr. 

\  Frezier,  Rel.  du  Yoy.  de  la  Mer  du  Sud, 
p.  248. 

§  Kotzebue,  Reise  nach  Rom.  I.  327. 

II  Spanien,  Wie  es  ist.  1797,  II.  117. 

1J.J.  Straussen's  Reisen,  Amst.  1678,  S.84. 

**  Weber,  Verandertes  Russland,  1721,  II 
198. 

tt  Waitz,  II.  185. 


1  I    I  1«    ll|s\| 


CHAPTER  V. 

I  111'      VARIOUS     l  iBJECTS     OF      1  I  I  h  II- 
WORSHIP. 

A  w  i  hing  may  become  a  fel 
An  intelligent  Dakota  once  said  that 
"there  is  nothing  that  the  Indians  do 
not  worship  as  a  God."*  For  the 
Negroes  ol  the  Gold  Coast,  Wongs 
(objei  ts  of  worship)  are,  first,  the  gods 
dwelling  betwixt  heaven  and  earth,  who 
•  children,  die,  and  come  to  lite 
again.  These  deities  are  divided  into 
distini  l  i  lasses,  which  get  their  names 
from  the  Functions  they  discharge,  and 
these  names  are  taken  from  thevo<  ab- 
ulary  ol  Negro  state-craft.  But  then 
Wong  is  also,  i,  the  sea,  with  all  its 
contents  ;  2,  rivers,  lakes,  fountains  : 
3,  certain  enclosed  areas  of  land,  and 
all  termite-hills  ;  4,  the  otutu  (a  little 
heap  of  earth  raised  over  a  buried 
sacrifice)  and  the  drums  belonging  to 
a  quarter  of  a  town  ;  5,  certain  trees  : 
1  tain  animals — the  crocodile,  ape. 
serpent,  etc.,  while  other  animals  are 
only  sacred  to  the  Wongs;  7,  images 
carved  and  blessed  by  the  fetichman  ; 
8,  certain  combinations  of  cords,  hairs, 
bones,  etc.t 

1.  Stones  as  Fetiches. 

All  Nature  is  endowed  with  life  :  the 
savage  mind  apprehends  even  stones 
anthropopathically.  The  Lapps  trans- 
fer to  stones  the  domestic  relations  of 
Father,  Mother  and  Child  :  they  even 
fancy  that  stones  roam  about  at  night, 
after  the  manner  of  the  "  Roving 
l!ell."t  It  is  not  only  in  Ovid's  Meta- 
morphoses thai  men  are  changed  into 
s;  the  natives  of  the  Marianne 
Isles  have  a  belief  that  the  first  Man 
was  metamorphosed  into  a  rock, 
which  is  still  pointed  out  as  an  object 
of    veneration. §       The     worship     of 


*  Waitz,  III.  191. 

I  Bas,  Missionary  Magazine,  1856,  II.  131  ; 
Wait/,  II.  183. 

}  Requard,  Voy.  en  Lappland,  in  Voy.  au 
v.  VI.  p.  321. 

j  l'-  Gobien,  Hist,  des  Isles  Marianes. 
Paris,  1700,  p.  197. 


stones  is  t"  be  found  in  all  quarters 
ol  the  globe :  but  in  Africa  it  prevails 
np>s[  among  the  Gal  las.*     Men  swear 

by  Stones  and  by  rocks:    for  ins;. 

the  Somali  in  Atrii  a.t  not  to  speak  of 

other     nations.        The     ancient     I 

mans    and    Cauls,    as    also    tin-    i 

who,  ,i,  1  ording  to  Grimm, 
stone-worshipers  par  excellence,  did 
the  s. Hue. I  Xulius  Christianus  ad 
fan  a  ant  ad  petras,  vel  ad  fontes,  vel 
m\  arbores  luminaria  faciat,  aut  vota 
reddere  praesumat, — such  is  the  exhor- 
tation given  by  S.  Eloy  in  a  sermon. § 
The  church  in  the  middle  ages  never 
tires  of  condemning  the  "  votum 
vovere  ad  lapidem,  vel  ad  quamlibe-t 
rem."  ||  Offerings  were  made  to 
stones  by  anointing  them  with  oil, 
1  ir  wine." 
The  pagan  inhabitants  of  Canaan 
worshiped  stones  in  this  manner.** 
j  De  Brosses,  in  his  work  in  the  Baety- 
lia  shows  that  all  the  great  nations  of 
antiquity,  not  excepting  the  Creeks 
and  Romans,  worshiped  stones.  The 
inhabitants  of  Phara;  worshiped  30 
square  stones.  Tofrrouj  01  lovaiv  oi  Qapeig, 
writes  l'ausanias,  tK&arov  dew  vivos  ovo/ia 

)-l'/>)iiV7!C.  Tl/  •UllTljUl     k(l't      Td'ir 

TTOOIV  '  Y,'/'/ ij^i .  -n/iir  \iti.ir  1)1-1  ayajifl&TUV  fl\nr 

apydi  /m,„  .ff  In  a  higher  state  of  intel- 
lectual development,  when  the  notion 
of  gods  gained  the  ascendency,  it 
was  very  easy  to  establish  relation 
between  some  god  and  a  stone,  which 
previously  had  been  worshiped  on  its 
own  account.  The  Sacred  Treasure 
of  Jupiter  at  Tegea  was  a  rough  quad- 
rangular stone.  Meteoric  stones  were 
a  special  object  of  worship,  being 
often  regarded    as  incarnate  ravs   of 


*  Rochet  d'Hericourt,  Voy.  dans  le  roy.  de 
Choa.     Par.  iS.ji,  p.  167. 

1  Burton,  First  Footsteps  in  E.  Afr.     Lond. 

1856,    p.    I  I   v 

}  J.  ( rrimm,  1  >.  M.  S.  370. 

§  Vita  Eligii  by  Andoenus  Rotomagensis 
(d.  683  or  689),  pub.  l>y  Achery,  Spicileg,  t.  v. 
Paris,  1661,  p.  215-219;  Grimm,  I  >.  M.  Anh. 
S.  XXX. 

Grimm,  D.  M.  Auh.  S.  XX  X  I II.  XXXIV. 
XXXV. 

•  Meiners,  Gesch.  d.  R.  S.  150;  I  >e  Urosses, 
Les  Pierres  Bxtyles,  110.  123.  133,  135. 

**  Cf.  Merx,  s.  v.  Abgotterei,  in  Scnenkel's 
Bibellexikon. 
I  I  Pausan.  VII.  22,  VI.  =2. 


FETICHISM. 


65 


the  sun.*  Such  hyakfiara  Suitet^  (Baety- 
iia,  abadii)  are  the  Stone  Symbol  of 
Diana,  at  Ephesus ;  of  the  Sun-God 
Elagabal,  at  Emissa,  in  Syria;  of 
Mars,  at  Rome,  and  the  Black  Stone, 
the  Kaaba,  at  Mecca. 

Many  savages  regard  stones  as  the 
children  of  Mother  Earth, t  for  they 
have  also  an  anthropopathic  concep- 
tion of  the  earth,  and  so  worship  her. 
According  to  Dapper,  the  King  of 
Ale  and  his  grandees  used  to  hold 
council  together,  previous  to  a  war,  in 
a  pit  dug  in  the  midst  of  the  forest. 
The  deliberations  at  an  end,  the  pit 
was  carefully  filled  up  again,  lest  it 
should  betray  their  secrets.  The  Iro- 
quois and  other  Indian  tribes  believed 
themselves  to  be  the  children  of 
Earth  :  they  would  never  sit  upon  the 
bare  ground,  but  always  first  covered 
the  spot  on  which  they  sat,  with  a  lit- 
tle grass,  or  with  a  branch  of  a  tree4 

Nam    neque     de   coelo    cecidisse     animalia 

possunt 
Xec  terrestria  de  salsis  exisse  lacunis  : 
Linquitur,  ut  merito  maternum  nomen  adepta 
Terra  sit,  e  terra  quoniam  sunt  cuncta  creata. 
Lucretius  de  R.  N.  v.  793  seqq. 

2.  Mountains  as  Fetiches. 

Mountains  are  for  many  reasons 
objects  of  fetichistic  worship.  At 
one  moment  their  summits  are  veiled 
in  clouds,  the  next  they  are  radiant 
in  the  fierce  blaze  of  the  sun  ;  out  of 
their  caverns  the  winds  issue  forth, 
and  down  their  sides  are  poured  the 
torrents  which  fall  from  the  rain-clouds 
enveloping  their  heads.  All  these 
phenomena  are  regarded  by  the  un- 
tutored mind  of  the  savage  as  pro- 
duced by  the  agency  of  the  mountain 
itself,  and  he  accordinglv  pictures  to 
himself  the  latter  as  endowed  with  a 
human  will,  and  acting  from  human 
motives.  In  this  respect  he  is  a  poet. 
He  does  not  imagine  any  such  thing 
as  a  Spirit  of  the  mountain,  a  being 
merely   inhabiting    it;    no,    it   is  the 


*  Rastian,  Die  Seele,  u.  s.  \v.  S.  9. 
+  Ibidem. 

%  Tanner,  Memoires  trad,  pas  E.  de  Blosse- 
ville.     Paris,  1835,  I.  250;  Waitz,  III.  1.X4. 


Mountain  itself,  this  tellurian  mass 
that  he  worships.  It  is  true,  the 
fetichist  sees  in  it  something  more 
than  a  heap  of  earth  and  rock.  For 
him  the  mountain  forms  the  clouds, 
and  sends  the  storms.  But  why? 
From  such  motives  as  move  men  to 
action  :  now  he  is  terribly  wrathful ; 
anon  he  is  all  smiles.  So  his  wor- 
shipers will  study  to  appease  him, 
and  for  this  purpose  will  make  offer- 
ings to  him. 

The  worship  of  mountains  is  found 
among  several  Siberian  tribes,  among 
Negroes  and  American  Indians.* 
The  Ural  was  worshiped  by  the  na- 
tions dwelling  around  it.  We  must 
distinguish  between  this  fetich  wor- 
ship and  that  respect  paid  to  mount- 
ains, on  the  ground  of  their  having 
once  been  the  seat  of  a  certain  cultus, 
or  the  home  of  some  god.  In  that 
case  it  is  not  the  mountain  but  the  god 
that  is  worshiped  :  and  of  this  kind 
of  veneration  we  do  not  treat  here. 
As  Jacob  Grimm  did  not  study  fet- 
ichism  in  its  psychological  aspects,  he 
doubted  whether  men  ever  could  pay 
adoration  to  a  mountain,  and  discred- 
ited all  accounts  which  state  that  such 
a  worship  exists.  I  extract  from  his 
Deutsche  Mythologie  the  passages 
which  have  a  bearing  on  this  subject, 
as  so  many  proofs  for  the  reality  of 
Mountain-fetich  worship,  f  "  Many 
were  the  Sacred  Mounts  and  Hills': 
but  yet  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  worshiped  directly,  but  to  have 
been  venerated  merely  on  account  of 
the  god  who  inhabited  them  (Wotan's 
and  Donner's  Berge).  Though  Aga- 
thias  speaks  of  ''oooi  anfJ  ^dpayyeg 
(hills  and  ravines)  as  being  objects 
of  worship,  without  any  mention  of 
any  other  object,  we  may  suppose  that 
he  was  an  inaccurate  observer,  and 
that  he  failed  to  notice  a  worship  of 
water  or  of  fire  having  its  sanctuary 
on  the  mountains.  We  might  look 
for  the  worship  of  mountains  among 


*The  Yakutes,  Sarvtschew,  I.  27  ;  the  Bu- 
rats,  Georgi,  318;  Negroes,  De  Bry,  VI.  21. 
Romer,  65  ;  Peruvians,  Acosta,  206 ;  Mongo- 
lians, Isbrand,  p.  til. 

t  Deutsche  Mythol.  S.  369. 


FETK   III^M. 


the  Goths,  in  whose  language  fairguai 
signifies  mountain,  11  the  explanation 
we  have  a  '  given  ol  this  word 

:.  Dietmar  oi  Merseburg 
gives  -in  example  ol  Sclavic  mountain- 
worship  (p.  a  ita  est  autem 
i  ivitas,  i.  e.  Nemzi,  Nimptsch)  in 

nsi,  vocabulo  hoc  a  </ito,i<i»i 
monte,  nimis  excelso  et  grandi,  olim 
sibi  indito:  et  hie  ob  qualitatem  suam 
et  quantitatem%  cum  execranda  gentili- 
tas  ibi  veneraretur,  ab  incolis  omnibus 
nimis  honorabatur.  The  commenta- 
are  ol  opinion  that  this  mountain 
is  the  Zobtenberg." 

3.    Water  as  0  Fetich. 

Jacob  Grimm  gives  a  very  full  ac- 
count of  the  worship  paid  to  Water  in 
the  spring,  the  brook,  the  river,  and 
the  sua,  and  describes  the  religious 
observances  of  the  people,  as  they 
••ottered  their  prayers,  lighted  lamps, 
or  made  their  sacrifices  on  the  banks 
of  the  stream,  or  on  the  margin  of  the 
spring  ;"  and  these  usages  he  traces 
from  the  remotest  antiquity  down  into 
the  Christian  era.t  "  The  pure,  flow- 
ing, bubbling,  evanescent  water;  the 
flaming,  glowing,  dying  fire  ,  the  air, 
perceptible,  not  to  the  eye,  but  to  the 
ear  and  to  the  touch;  the  Earth, 
which  maintains  all  things  and  to 
which  they  all  revert  :  these  have 
ever  been  regarded  by  man  as  sacred 
and  worshipful,  ami  through  them  he 
has  been  wont  to  bestow  a  solemn 
consecration  upon  the  customs,  the 
pursuits  and  the  events  of  his  life. 
Their  action  upon  the  entire  universe 
being  steady  and  constant,  the  untu- 
tored mind  pays  them  worship  for  their 
own  sake  without  any  reference  to  a 
deity  residing  in  them.  "  The  an- 
thropopathic  apprehension  of  rivers, 
springs,  and  the  sea  is  found  among 
all  savage  nations.  Many  of  the  pop- 
ulations on  the  banks  of  the  Niger 
rd  its  tributaries  as  the  wives  ol 
the  main  stream. %      In  Acra  a  pitcher 


used  to  be  (~as!  into  a  pond  which  was 
thought  to  lie  the  messenger  ol  all  the 
rivers  in  that  country:  the  pond  was 

then  entreated  to  go  abroad  with  the 

pitcher   and    pun  hi  r  of  other 

ponds  and  streams  :  on  r<  turning  home 

it  was   expected    to   bring    sufficient 

water  to  irrigate  all  the  fields.*  The 
Spring  led    as    the   scat    of   all 

the  river's  life.  Strangers  must  not 
come    near   il.t      The     Negro    savage 

believes  that  the  presence  of  the  white 
traveler  may  enrage  the  River  Spirit, 
or  do  him  hurt,  or  even  deprive  him 
of  life.  Rivers  are  an  object  of  wor- 
ship not  only  in  Africa,!  but  also  in 
Americas  and  in  Northern  Asia.  || 
Whenever  the  Kainw  hatdales  sail 
across  a  dangerous  whirlpool  they  cast 
into  the  water  little  pieces  of  wood 
neatly  carved,  and  tobacco,  and  ex- 
cuse their  temerity  by  saying:  "  Be 
not  angry  with  us  for  sailing  over  thee. 
as  though  we  had  forgotten  our  rever- 
ence for  thee.  We  are  not  without 
reverence,  but  the  Russians  oblige  us 
against  our  will  to  make  this  naviga- 
tion." H"  The  ancient  Russians  wor- 
shiped the  Don.  the  Dnieper  (wor- 
shiped as  the  Borysthenes  by  the 
Scythians  land  the  Wolga — streams  on 
which  they  depended  for  their  exist- 
ence. The  ancient  Mongolians  would 
appear  also  to  have  been  given  to 
river-worship.**  According  to  Agath- 
ias  the  Alamanni  too  worshiped  riv- 
ers :  -i"''V"  r;  y&p  fiva  DioaKovrcu  xai 
rrora/tcrv  vat  X6<povg  /><.■■■ 
uairepbaiaSpuvTec.-f'f  Herodotus  makes 
a  similar  statement  as  to  the  Persians  : 


•  I  »euta  he  Mythol.  1  [6. 

t  I).  M.  326-340. 

\  Clapperton,  Tageb.  seiner,  zweiten  K.  p. 

414. 


*Allg.    Gesch.  dcr    K.    IV.    [8oj    Wait/, 
Anthr.  1 1.  177. 

t  Laing,  p.  310;  Bastian,  59  f.  "In  [641 
Hans  <  Ihm  of  Sommerpahl  Built  a  mill  over 
the  brook  1  and  as  the  succeeding  year  proved 
diss i^tious  to  the  crops,  everj body  ass 
as  the  cause,  tin-  profanation  <>f  the  sacred 
brook,  which  was  indignant  at  having  been 
cheeked  in  its  course.  So  they  attacked  the 
mill,  and  utterly  destroyed  it."  (.irinim,  1). 
M.   $38. 

}  (  avazzi,  I.  363. 

§  ( lharlevoix,  p. 

I  .  S.  31S  ;  Steller,  S.  21. 

U   !.    S.      I'/. 

**\Yuttki,    I.  214.    ('/.  liarrow,   Trav.  in 
China.       I  .mid.    1S04,  p.   509. 
A  j  ith.  28.  4. 


FETICH  ISM. 


67 


E$-  TTOTafjbv  (5f  obre  tvovpiovat  ovte  kfiirrvovat, 

ov  xsipaC  EvaTroviZovrat,  ovfie  a/J.ov  ovdeva  tce- 
piopeovoi,    a?.?.a  oefiovrai  Trorafiovc  fj.d?jara.  * 

Seneca  says  of  the  Romans  :  Magno- 
rum  fluminum  capita  veneramur  :  su- 
bita  et  ex  abdito  vasti  amnis  eruptio 
aras  habet.  Coluntur  aquarum  calen- 
tium  fontes :  et  stagna  quajdam  vel 
opacitas  vel  immensa  altitudo  sacra- 
vit.f  The  honor  which  the  Hindus 
pay  to  the  Ganges  does  not  belong  to 
this  category.  The  Hindu  apotheosis 
of  Nature  is  pantheistic,  not  fetichistic. 
"  O  Mother  Earth,  Father  Air,  Friend 
Fire,  Brother  Water,  I  now  in  all  rev- 
erence and  for  the  last  time  address 
my  prayers  to  you  :  I  am  about  to  en- 
ter into  the  Supreme  Brahman,  for  ow- 
ing to  the  surplus  of  good  works  which 
I  have  laid  up  during  my  intercourse 
with  you,  I  have  attained  to  immacu- 
late knowledge  and  have  so  cast  aside 
all  power  of  straying  from  the 
Truth."  t  We  must  however  here  re- 
member that  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
mon people  the  amulet  easily  becomes 
a  fetich. 

The  natives  of  Sumatra  and  of  the 
Philippines  worship  the  sea,  as  well 
as  those  of  Africa.  By  the  ancient 
Peruvians,  before  the  time  of  the  In- 
cas,  the  sea  was  regarded  as  the  su- 
preme deity.§ 

The  Kaffirs  make  offerings  to  a 
stream,  of  entrails,  animals  and  millet, 
to  secure  immunity  against  disease.  || 
Roman  naval  commanders  offered 
sacrifice  to  the  sea  before  setting  sail. IT 
Even  in  the  last  century  Christian 
Greeks  made  offerings  to  rivers  ;  and 
Turks  regarded  it  as  perfectly  natural 
to  throw  overboard  Christians  and 
Jews,  in  a  storm,  to  appease  the  wrath 
of  the  sea.**  A  tempest  having  broken 

*  Herod.  I.   138. 

t  Senec.  Ep.  41  ;  Cic.  de  N.  Deor.  III.  20. 

t  Otto  Bohtlingk,  Indische  Spriiche,  B.  II. 
S.  97  (1  Aufl.). 

§  Bosmann,  S.  168  ;  Atkins,  Voy.  to  Guinea, 
Bra/il  and  the  W.  Indies.  Lond.  1737,  p.  1 19  ; 
Sneligrave,  Nouvelle  Relation  de  la  Guinee! 
Amst.  1735,  P-  69  ;  Marsden,  256,  258. 

II  Alberti,  S.  72. 

IT  Cicero,  de  N.  Deor.  III.  20. 
**  Shaw,  Travels,  or  observations  relating  to 
sev.  parts  of  Barbary  and  the  Levant.     Lond. 
x757.  P-    3331    Guys,    Voy.    litteraire    de    la 


up  the  first  bridge  of  boats,  Xerxes 
ordered  three  hundred  lashes  to  be 
given  to  the  Hellespont,  and  chains 
to  be  cast  into  it.  Again  he  pre- 
sented an  offering  on  a  dish  of  gold, 
and  this,  together  with  a  golden 
goblet,  he  threw  into  the  waters  of 
the  strait.  Herodotus  is  undecided 
whether  this  was  done  in  honor  of  the 
Sun,  or  to  appease  the  offended  Hel- 
lespont.* 

4.    Wind  and  Fire  as  Fetiches. 

"The  hurricane  (called  by  the 
Congo  Negroes,  'the  Horse  of  the 
Boonzie  ')  is  regarded  as  a  ravening, 
devouring  monster — a  giant  like  the 
Jotunns — whose  wrath  may  be  ap- 
peased by  casting  meal  into  the  air. 
I  regard  this,"  says  Jacob  Grimm, 
"as  a  primitive  superstition."  f  "In 
the  popular  traditions  of  Russia  the 
four  winds  are  the  sons  of  one  mother , 
and  in  the  ancient  Russian  song  of  Igor 
the  Winds  are  addressed  as  Lords, 
and  are  said  to  be  the  grandsons  of 
Stribog,  whose  divine  nature  is  im- 
plied in  his  name.  In  like  manner  in 
Oriental  tales  and  poems  the  wind  is 
represented  as  speaking  and  holding 
converse."  $  Of  the  Payaguas  of  S. 
America  Azara  §  says :  "  When  a 
storm  overturns  their  huts  or  casas, 
they  take  a  brand  from  the  fire,  and 
run  against  the  wind  for  some  dis- 
tance, threatening  it  with  the  brand. 
Others  strike  terror  into  the  storm, 
by  pummeling  the  air  soundly."  In 
Asia  the  Tcheremis  used  to  make  of- 
ferings to  the  winds. ||  In  ancient 
times  the  same  custom  was  in  vogue 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  as 
well  as  other  nations.il 

In   every  quarter  of  the   globe  we 

meet  with   the  worship  of  Fire,   that 

"mysterious    element,    ever   restless 

> 


Grece.  Par.  1776,1.  466;  Kleemann,  Reisen 
in  die  Crimm.  II.  Wien,  1771,8.  113. 

*  Herod.  VII.  34,  35,  54. 

tD.  M.363.     Cf.  S.  360-368. 

%  D.  M.  361. 

§  Azara,  II.  137. 

II  Rytschkow,  S.  86. 

•"Herod.  VII.  178,  189;  Pausan.  II.  12; 
Cic.  de.  N.  Deor.  III.  20. 


I  I    I  1<    HIsM. 


i  i  brightly  flaming   Whenever   the  fire  went    out,  on   re- 
i   oi   Nature."     "Our   Northern   kindling    it.    sacrifice    was    offered.* 

student  lights  his  lamp  with  a  mail  h.   Tl  called    themselves    Poto- 

spreads  out  before  him  the  volumes  watomie,  which  means,  we  make  fire, t 
written  in  the  past,  and  traces  in  and,  likr  the  Ojibways  and  other 
Hephaestus  the  root  Phtha,  <>r  com-  nations,  they  kepi  up  an  undyingfire, 
I  ares  Vesta,  Behram  and  Agni  with  as  the  symbol  of  their  nationality.! 
one  another.  As  I  take  it,  this  is  According  to  Adair  the  word  Cherokee 
commencing  at  the  end  and  not  at  the  is  derived  from  Cheera,  fire.  The 
beginning.  The  student  does  nol  Muscogees  gave  to  fire  the  highest 
consider  that  friction-matches  are  a  Indian  title  ol  honor,  grandfather,^ 
very  recent  invention,  and  that  an-  and  their  priests  were  called  '*  Fire- 
ciently  the  production  ol  tire  was  a  makers."  The  chief  ceremony  of  their 
very  difficult  process:  as  we  may  still  principal  festival,  "the  First  Fruits," 
see  in  the  case  of  savages  who  often  was  the  Renewing  of  the  Fire,  a  per- 
spend  hours  in  getting  fire.*  The  formance  which,  among  the  Mexicans, 
lucifer  which  has  become  for  us  a  was  repeated  every  52  years.  The 
thing  so  familiar  that  we  newer  stop  old  fires  were  then  all  extinguished, 
to  think  about  it,  was  once  one  of  the  and  it  was  only  after  they  had 
most  mysterious  of  wonders,  a  wonder  practiced  purificatory  rites  and  fasted 
which  must  have  all  the  more  forcibly  for  the  space  of  three  days  that  the 
impressed  men's  imaginations,  inas-  people  supposed  they  had  received 
much  as  it  not  alone  promoted  man's  the  consecration  which  was  needed 
comfort,  but  even  made  life  endurable,  j  for  the  kindling  of  the  new  Fire.fl 
especially  in  cold  climates.  Hence  j  With  the  worship  of  fire  that  of 
we  can  understand  why  the  Sacred  Lightning  and  Thunder  is  closely  al- 
Fire  alwavs  burned  in  the  shrine  ;  why  lied.  Perhaps  among  all  the  phenom- 
faithful  guardians  were  appointed  to  ena  of  Nature  the  worship  of  Thun- 
care  for  it,  and  why  this  worship  of  der  and  Lightning  is  the  most  widely 
Fire  was  recognized  in  public  legisla-  diffused.  It  is  found  among  the 
tion,  as  well  as  in  the  concernments  rudest  populations — the  aborigines  of 
of  private  life.""!  " Fire,  like  water.  Brazil, for  instance. If  The  Betchuana 
is  regarded  as  a  thing  of  life:"  land  worship  the  rain  as  it  falls  from  the 
by  many  savage  tribes  it  is  held  to  clouds.  As  their  country  is  arid  and 
be  an  animal.  ''"  "*P  &tipiw  ty^ov,  barren,  and  their  great  curse  drought, 
says  Herodotus, describing  the  belief s  they  hold  Rain  to  be  the  Giver  of  all 
of  the  Egyptians  (III.  16),  and  good.  They  begin  and  end  every 
Cicero   has.    ignis    animal.      (De    N.   solemn  discourse  with  the  word Puhla, 


Deor.  3.  1  \.  1  Among  the  Damara, 
one  of  the  rudest  of  savage  tribes. 
who  can  scarcely  count  beyond  the 
number  three,  and  to  whom  the  insti- 
tution of  marriage  is  unknown,  the 
daughters  of  the  chiefs  are  charged 
with  the  duty  of  keeping  up  the  Sa- 
1  led  Fire  .  for  Vestals  are  to  be  found 
in  several  religious  systems,  the  duty 
ot  keeping  up  a  sacred  lire  being  an 
easy  .me.  and  best  suited  for  women. 
When  a  family  separated  from  the 
tribe  and  emigrated  they  took  with 
them    a    brand    of     the    sacred    fire. 


•Cf.  Grimm,  I).  M  341  if. 
t  Bastian,  343. 
}  I  >.  M.  S.  340. 


rain,  and   they  have   the  greatest  ven- 
eration for  their  Rain-makers.** 

In  some  countries  it  is  not  the 
Rain  itself  but  a  Rain-giver  that  is 
worshiped;  not  the  Thunder,  but  a 
Thunderer,  who  ranks  above  all  other 
spirits  by  reason  of  the  dread  power 
of  his  voice  and  the  awful,  death-deal- 
ing force  of  his  shaft,  the  Lightning. 

*  Anderson,  Rcise  in  S.  \V.  Afrika  bis  zum 
Ngami.    Leipz.  1S5S,  I.  239. 

I  Keating,  I.  89. 

{  Schoolcraft,  II.  138. 

§WaitZ,  III.  208. 

il  Ibid.  208. 

""  M.  v.  Xcuwied,  S.  144. 

**  Thompson,  I. 180;  Campbell,  2d  Journey, 
230. 


FETICHISM. 


The  Damara  regard  as  their  supreme 
deity  Omakuru,  the  Rain-giver,  who 
dwells  in  the  distant  North.*  Some 
of  the  Damara  even  claim  for  them- 
selves descent  from  the  Rain,  while 
others  would  have  only  birds,  fishes 
and  worms  reckoned  as  Rain's  prog- 
eny, f  In  the  island  of  Ponapi  the 
supreme  Being  vents  his  wrath  in  the 
thunder:|  and  in  the  northern  Sagas 
Lightning  is  called  God?s Beard-speech^ 
for  when  Thor  mutters  words  behind 
his  red  beard,  the  lightnings  flash 
through  the  sky.  Zeus  shakes  his 
ambrosial  locks,  and  the  heavens  are 
moved.  In  the  isle  of  Morileu  navi- 
gators adored  the  rainbow,  or  perhaps 
the  spirit  of  the  rainbow. § 

After  the  mind  has  attained  some 
degree  of  development,  the  old  ob- 
jects of  worship  still  remain,  but  they 
are  then  subordinated  to  the  new, 
and  pass  for  the  symbols  of  the  latter. 
As  Zeus  was  thus  connected  with 
lightning  and  thunder,  so  among  the 
Israelites  Jehovah  was  connected 
with  fire,  as  his  appearance  in  the 
Burning  Bush,  in  thunder  and  light- 
ning on  Sinai,  and  in  the  Pillar  of 
Fire,  clearly  shows.  Vulcan  came  into 
relation  with  the  sacred  fire  of  Vesta 
through  the  column  of  flame  which 
shot  up  from  Etna. 

5.  Plants  as  Fetiches. 

"  Heathendom  regarded  all  Nature 
as  living,"  savs  Jacob  Grimm.  || 
This  view  of  Nature  is  very  clearly 
expressed  in  the  northern  myth  of 
Baldr.  To  ward  off  from  the  be- 
loved God  all  danger,  Frigg  exacted 
an  oath  from  Earth,  from  stones, 
water,     fire,     plants,    beasts,     birds, 


*  Anderson,  I.  237. 

t  Rh.  Missionsber,  1852,  S.  235;  Halm, 
Grundziige  einer  Grammatik  des  Herero. 
Berl.  1S57,  S.  152. 

J  Michelewa  y  Rojas,  Viajes  cientificos  en 
todo  el  Mundo  (1S22-42).  Madrid.  1843,  P- 
197. 

$  V.  Kittlitz,  Denkwurdigk.  auf  einer  R.  n. 
d.  russ.  Am.,  Mikrones.  und  K.amtsch.  (1826 
ff).     Gotha,  1858,  II.  105. 

II  D.  M.,  S.  371. 


worms,  and  even  from  Pestilence,  not 
to  injure  him.  Only  the  young  and 
and  tender  Mistletoe  was  by  the  god- 
dess thought  so  weak  and  powerless 
that  she  did  not  require  of  it  the  oath. 
But  when  afterward  Hodur,  at  the 
prompting  of  Loke,  with  this  plant 
compassed  the  death  of  Baldr,  all 
creatures  wept — plants,  beasts  and 
men. 

If  inanimate  stones  are  regarded 
as  living  beings,  we  are  not  to  be  sur- 
prised if  plants  are  also  thought  to 
have  souls,  for  their  whole  process  of 
development,  in  growing  and  bloom- 
ing, in  bearing  fruit  and  in  withering, 
has  many  analogies  in  human  life. 
This  anthropopathic  apprehension  of 
plants  is  very  evident  in  the  belief 
entertained  in  popular  superstition 
as  to  the  powers  of  the  magical  plant 
Mandrake,  which  is  mentioned  under 
the  name  fiavdpaydpag  by  Hippocrates, 
Xenophon,  Plato,  Theophrastus  and 
others.  It  is  described  as  shaped 
like  a  man.  When  it  is  plucked 
from  the  earth  it  utters  a  cry,  a  groan 
of  pain  so  terrible  as  to  cause  the 
death  of  the  one  who  plucks  it  out. 
But  if  it  be  displaced  by  a  special 
manipulation  of  the  surrounding 
earth,  it  must  be  then  washed  in  red 
wine,  wrapped  in  white  and  red  ban- 
dages of  silk,  bathed  every  Friday, 
and  vested  in  a  fresh,  white  garment 
at  each  new  moon.  If  questioned  it 
will  make  known  future  and  hidden 
things  tending  to  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  the  questioner,  and  if  a 
piece  of  gold  lies  beside  it  through 
the  night  there  will  be  found  in  the 
morning  two  :  but  its  good-nature 
must  not  be  imposed  upon,  however. 
The  water  in  which  it  has  been 
washed  is  to  be  poured  upon  the  door- 
sill,  or  upon  the  cattle,  and  so  the 
house  and  the  stock  are  preserved 
from  ill-luck.  If  barren  women  drink 
of  it,  they  will  be  blessed  with  prog- 
eny. If  a  man  wears  the  mandrake 
about  his  person  he  will  always  in 
suits  at  law  defeat  his  opponent.* 
This  mandrake  is  of  human  origin, 

*  Meiners,  II.  600. 


70 


I  I    I  l<   UI>.M. 


springing  from  a  chaste  youth's 
semen  fallen  to  the  ground.  Hut 
on  the  other  hand,  men  also  spring 
from  plants.  There  is  a  Micronesian 
story  to  the  effect  that  Tangaloa's 
daughter,  while  yet  the  earth  was 
parched  ami  barren,  assuming  the 
I  'tin  ol  a  snipe  alighted  upon  the 
earth,  and  made  her  home  on  a  rock. 
i  the  rock  a  creeping  plant 
Sprung    forth,  and  as    this    died    away 

it  produced  at  first  worms,  then  men.* 

Sonic  of  the  1  tam.ira  tell  of  the  de- 
scent of  man  and  the  larger  beasts 
from  a  sacred  tree,  which  they  wor- 
ship. In  the  German  Song  of  Alex- 
ander (Alexanderlied)  by  Pfaff  Lam- 
fit,  "megede  rehte  vollencom- 
men  " — perfectly  beauteous  maidens 
— are  spoken  of  as  springing  from 
flowers. 

"  Si  gicngen  undc  lebeten 
Mcnschen  sin  si  habeten." 

As    they  spring    from    the    flowers, 
with  them  they  perish  : 

"  I  >ic  bid  men  gare  verturben 
Unde  die  scdnen  now  en  sturben." 

Daphne  was  changed  into  a  bay-tree. 
In     speaking     of     the    worship    of 
plants,  trees  and  woods,  I  do  not  give 
it  (  h  id's  interpretation  : 


Stat  vetus  ct  multos  incasduasilva  per  annos, 
Creditiilc  est  Hit  numen  uicsse  locoA 


On  the  Coral  Islands  of  Polynesia 
the  Crinum  and  the  dragon's  blood  are 
held  sacred.  The  I  >avaks  of  Borneo 
worship  also  the  dragon's  blood,  to- 
gether with  the  pancratium  amboi- 
nense.%  (hue talk-,  however,  it  is  large 
tires  that  are  worshiped,  such  as 
the  mighty  adansonia.  In  YVhidah  the 
sick  apply  to  the  sacred  trees,  tin 
the  cure  of  their  complaints. §  On 
the  Zaire  the  public  and  the  domestic 


*  Turner,  p.  z.\  \. 
I  <  •■. ill,  Amor.  III.  i.  i. 
}  Gerland,  in  Waitz,  V.  2.  10. 
ji  Bosmann,  II.  64,  323,  III.  153;  Dcs  Mar- 
chais,  II.  132. 


council  of  the  prince  meet  beneath 
the  holy  fiats  religiosa?  .1  tree  which 
plays  an  important  part  in  die  history 
'•1  religion.     In  ( longo  it  is  planted 

in  all  the  market-pla<  es,  as  an  ol 
of  worship:  its  bark  has  fetich-craft  ; 
and  any  injury  done  to  the  tree  is 
punished  as  a  crime.  The  Somali 
worship  certain  trees. t  and  the  Gal  la 
specially  the  wan/ey-tree,  though  in 
die  south  of  Shoa  they  regard  the 
wodanaot-tree  as  their  national  Palla- 
dium, their  "great  Fetich."  t  This 
same  tree-worship  is  found  in  N. 
America  and  Northern  Asia,  for  in- 
stance, among  the  Ostiaks,  Wotiaks 
and  the  Tsheremis.^  The  savages  of 
Acadie  worshiped  an  ancient  tree  on 
the  sea-shore.  This  tree  having  fallen 
root  and  branch  into  the  sea.  they 
continued  to  worship  it  as  long  as 
any  part  of  it  remained  visible.  ||  The 
sacred  tree  of  the  Longobardi  was 
the  so-called  blood-tree,  and  the  an- 
cient Germans  worshiped  chiefly  the 
oak,  though  they  had  also  great  rever- 
ence for  the  alder  :  IT  nor  were  the 
ancient  Jews,  Arabs**  or  Persians  ft 
without  their  fetich-trees.  The  god- 
dess Ashera  was  originally  worshiped 
under  the  form  of  a  simple  stock  of 
wood.lt  "The  Diana  of  the  isle  of 
Eubcea  was  a  piece  of  unhewed  wood, 
the  Thespian  Juno  of  Cytheron  the 
trunk  of  a  tree,  she  of  Samos  a  sim- 
ple slab  of  wood,  as  was  also  the 
Delian  Latona :  the  Carian  Diana 
was  a  cylinder  of  wood,  and  the 
Pallas,  and  the  Ceres  at  Athens  were 
rough  stakes,  sine  effigie  rudis  palus, 
et  in  forme  lignum.7'  §§ 

As  single  trees,  so  also  whole 
groves,  with  their  green,  umbrageous 
aisles,  their  mystic  gloom,  and  the 
tuneful  rustling  of  their  leaves  would 


*  Tuckev,  p.  366. 
t  Waitz,'  II.  523. 
t  lb.  51S. 

§  Rytschkow,  S.  161. 
1  levoix,  p.  349. 
"  I .1  iram,  I  >.  M.  s.  374. 
**  Mcrx,  in  Schenkel's  Bibellex.   Art.  As- 
chera  and  A  start e. 
tt  Meiners,  I.  152. 
J  J  Merx,  ubi  tupr. 
§£  I  >e  Rrosses,  p.  151. 


FETICHISM. 


71 


make  a  most  profound  impression  on 
the  childlike  fancy  of  the  savage. 
The  rustling  of  the  leaves  was  regarded 
as  the  language  of  the  trees  :  thus  it 
was  that  the  sacred  oaks  of  Dodona 
spoke,  and  oracles  were  published 
founded  on  these  words  of  the  oaks. 
Athene,  according  to  Apollodorus, 
fixed  on  the  prow  of  the  Argo  a  voice- 
ful  piece  of  wood  from  one  of  the 
Dodonian  oaks  (fovijev Qrryov  rrjg  Audwvidog 

;'><"),  and  the  wooden  ships  of  the 
Phceacians  were   possessed  of  souls 

(riTvoKu/ifrai  opsal  vf/E(;\* 

Among  the  ancient  Germans  single 
trees  as  well  as  entire  forests  were 
held  in  the  greatest  reverence.! 
Such  sacred  groves  were  not  to  be 
entered  by  the  profane  •  such  sacred 
trees  were  not  to  be  stripped  of  their 
leaves  or  branches,  or  to  be  hewed 
clown.  Compare  sacrum  nemus*  ne- 
mus  castum,  in  Tacitus,  and  Lucus 
erat  longo  numquam  violatus  ab  aevo, 
in  Lucan.i  Amongst  the  sacred 
groves  of  German  lands  were  the  for- 
est of  the  Semnones,  the  nemus  of 
Nerthus,  the  Sclavic  lucus  Zutibure 
and  the  Prussian  grove  Romowe. 
Amongst  the  Esthonians  it  was  held 
impious  to  break  off  a  twig  in  a  sa- 
cred grove,  nor  would  they  even  pluck 
a  strawberry  within  its  shadow.§ 
Long  after  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity the  violation  of  trees  was 
sternly  punished  in  Germany.  ||  Of  the 
Esthonians  at  the  present  day  we  have 
this  account  ;  Only  a  few  years  ago, 
in  the  parish  of  Harjel,  they  made 
offerings  (opferten)  under  certain  trees 
on  the  nights  of  S.  George's,  S.  John's 
and  S.  Michael's  clay,  they  killed  a 
black  hen.  According  to  the  super- 
stitious belief  of  the  Wends  of  Lausitz 
there  are  forests  which  annually  de- 
mand a  human  sacrifice  (as  do  many 
rivers)  ■  and  one  man  must  annually 
yield  his  life.1T     For  an  account  of  the 


*  Odyss.  VIII.  556. 

t  Cf.  Grimm,  D.  M.  371  ff. 

J  Pharsal.  III.  399. 

§  "  Ut  umbra  pertingit."  Grimm,  R.  A.  57, 
105. 

||  Grimm,  Yveisthumer,  III.  S.  309,  iS,  IV. 
366,  15,699. 

If  Grimm,  D.  M.  ub.  supr. 


ecclesiastical  prohibitions,  vota  ad 
arbores  facere  aut  ibi  candelam  sen 
quodlibet  munus  deferre,  arborem  co- 
lere,  votum  persolvere,  consult  Grimm, 
D.  M.  Anhang.  XXXIII.  XXXIV. 

6.  Animals  as  Fetiches. 

Christianity,  that  religion  which 
sets  the  highest  value  upon  the  hu- 
man individual,  places  a  great  abyss 
between  man  and  nature.  She  iso- 
lates man  and  places  him  infinitely 
above  nature.  Christianity  therefore 
regards  the  animal  as  in  every  re- 
spect far  inferior  to  man.  The  relig- 
ions of  India  regard  Nature  as  only 
the  outward  aspect  of  Brahma ;  for 
them  therefore  the  eternal  Being  is 
visible  in  the  beast  as  well  as  in  man. 
Consequently  in  the  beast  the  Hindu 
recognizes  a  brother,  of  equal  rights, 
and  of  like  rank  with  himself.  But 
the  vtew  which  the  savage  takes  of 
the  animal  world  is  different  from 
both  of  these.  He  commonly  re- 
gards the  animal  not  simply  as  his 
equal,  but  as  a  superior  being.  Of 
the  Negroes  Waitz  says  :  "  In  their 
view  man  has  not  his  definitive  place 
at  the  summit  of  Nature,  and  above 
the  animals,  but  the  latter  appear  to 
them  as  enigmatical  beings  whose 
nature  is  involved  in  obscurity  and 
mystery,  and  whom  they  rank  now  as 
above  themselves,  again  as  beneath."* 
"The  Indians,"  says  the  same  au- 
thor, "  regard  the  animals  as  man's 
ancestors  and  kindred  and  ascribe  to 
them  a  human  understanding  and  hu- 
man principles  of  action,  or  even 
sometimes  a  higher  intelligence  and 
superhuman  capacities.  Those  ani- 
mals, however,  which  neither  inspire 
them  with  fear  nor  display  any  not- 
able sagacity  they  despise."  t  To 
understand  why  the  savage  views  the 
animal  creation  thus,  we  need  but 
know  the  nature  of  his  intellect  and 
the  conditions  of  life  in  which  he  is 
placed. 

As  the  understanding  reaches  only 
as  far  as  its  objects,  it  will  always  be 

* Anthrop.  II.  177. 
t  Anthrop.  III.  192. 


Ill  1  <    III.sM 


I  as  ihe  number  of  these  in- 
itei  a  man's  intelli- 
.  the  wider  is  the  line-  of  distinc- 
tion   between    him   and    beings   pos- 
d  ol  none  at  all,  or  of  a  le 
than   himself.      Bui   so  loi 
the  number  of   his  obj<  s   not 

•  ■!  thai  |"  assessed  by  animal  - 
.is  the)  are  the  same  in  kind  as 
thos<  »(  d    by    tin.-    animal,  and 

more  numerous,  fn  other  words/ 
.'./  is  that  <>l  da-  an- 
imal :    just    so   long  the    intell< 

the  lowest  savage  will 
not  be  distinguishable  from  that  of 
the  beast. 

The  will  can  be  exerted  only  upon 
the  objects  exhibited  to  it  in  the  un- 
derstands g.  Hence,  so  long  as  these 
ts  are  no  higher  than  those  of 
the  animal,  the  will  of  the  savage  can- 
not have  any  higher  aims  than  has 
the  will  of  the  beast. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  sav- 
age has  a  very  small  number  of  ob- 
1  loin  the  lack  of  objects  ol  a 
higher  nature,  we  have  shown  that 
his  will  must  be  concentrated  on 
those  which  are  purely  material, 
llence  his  only  stimulus,  his  only 
■  interest  is  to  satisfy  his  hunger, 
his  lust,  or  his  desire  of  repose. 

Thus  as  regards  his  intellectual 
status  and  the  range  of  his  desires, 
the  savage,  even  where  he  has  made 
little  progress,  differs  but  little 
from  the  animal  ,  while  at  a  lower 
stage  he  scarcely  differs  at  all.  The 
world  of  the  animal  is  his  world  also, 
and  their  interests  are  the  same. 
Hence  there  is  hardly  any  difference 
between  the  savage  and  a  highly-or- 
ganized animal,  but  as  he  differs  so 
little  from  them,  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  regard  himself  as  something 
quite  distinct  from  them.  His  pur- 
suits and  those  of  the  animal  are 
identical  ,  their  wants,  their  motives 
ie  same  :  the  animal  is  the  coun- 
terpart of  the  man;  therefore  the 
savage  regards  the  animal  as  his 
equal,  as  his  kindred. 

llence.  for  the  simple  reason  that 
the  savage  and  the  animal  are  dc 
facto    scarcely    distinguishable,     they, 


I  be  apprel    nded  ..s  standing  on 

an  equality.      And  as   the  sa\ 

not  attribute  to  the  beings  around 
him  any  internal  properties  save  those 
oi  which  he  already  has  ( ons<  ious- 
.  he  i-,  fori  eil.  as  we  have  seen, 
to  form  anlhropopathic  apprehen; 

of   objects.       The    mole   closely    these 

beings  resemble  man  in  their  nature 
and  habits,  the  sooner  will  he  attrib- 
ute to  them  the  self-same  motives 
which  e\i  [te  himself.  In  fact  his 
conduct  differs  ven  little  from  theirs; 
not  alone  does  he  closely  resemble 
them  .  he  is  in  many  respects  perfectly 
identical  with  them  Hence,  as  he 
must  have  antbropopathic  apprehen- 
sion of  a  mountain,  a  river,  or  a  tree. 
innot  help  regarding  the  animal 
asoi  his  kindred.  In  the  eastern  part 
of  South  Africa  Monteiro's  ass  was  a 
novelty  to  the  natives,  and  they  at 
once  commenced  to  ask  the  donkey 
what  he  thought  about  things,  always 
regarding  the  ass's  doings  as  human 
pel  f(  finances.* 

But  not  only  must  the  savage  re- 
gard all.  or  at  least  some  animals  as 
his  equals,  he  will  even  assign  them  a 
superior  rank.  Intellectual  qualities 
he  values  little,  as  he  knows  but  little 
about  them  :  but  on  the  contrary,  like 
all  men  of  uncultured  minds,  like 
boys,  like  the  old  giants  in  the  heroic 
legend,  he  prizes  bodily  strength 
above  even  thing  else.  The  great 
chief  who  with  a  blow  can  split  the 
skull  of  his  antagonist  ;  whose  power- 
ful voice  can  be  heard  at  enormous 
distances,  whose  nails  are  like  the 
claws  of  a  bear,  who  lays  hold  of  a 
man  and  tears'  him  in  twain,  who 
when  hot  coals  fall  upon  his  body  in 
sleep,  is  not  awakened,  but  t 
them  as  gnats  .  who  every  day  de- 
vours an  entire  sheep,  and  drinks  a 
skin  of  fermented  and  distilled  milk 
without  being  drunk  :  such  is  the 
savage's  ideal  of  true  greatness.  But 
nowhere  does  he  find  such  bodily 
strength  and  agility,  such  fiery  cour- 
md  uncurbed  fury  as  he  does  in 
wild  beasts,  the  lion,  tiger,  wolf,  bear. 


5<  In  if t  f.  allg.  Erdkunde,  VI.  407. 


FETICH  ISM. 


•elephant,  etc.  They  are  the  realiza- 
tion of  what  he  might  be  himself : 
they  are  the  ideals,  the  prototypes 
whose  names  he  delights  to  assume, 
and  which  he  chooses  as  his  Totems, 
and  his  guardian  spirits.  They  in- 
deed are  the  mighty  ones  of  his  coun- 
try :  his  weapons  are  often  insuffi- 
cient to  protect  him  against  their  at- 
tack ;  he  is  at  their  mercy,  and  lives 
as  it  were  by  their  favor.  Then  the 
colossal  size  of  some  of  these  beasts, 
or  the  majesty  of  their  presence — the 
demon  fascination  of  their  gleaming 
eyes,  must  make  on  the  savage  a  pro- 
founder  impression  than  upon  us,  in- 
asmuch as  these  are  the  very  proper- 
ties he  is  best  acquainted  with  and 
which  he  values  most  highly. 

Not  only  does  this  bodily  strength 
inspire  him  with  respect  for  the  beast, 
as  a  being  superior  to  himself ;  he  at- 
tributes to  him,  furthermore,  a  higher 
degree  of  sagacity  and  circumspection. 
The  unerring  instinct  of  the  animal  : 
the  cunning  of  the  fox,  the  dog's  acute- 
ness  of  sense,  the  ingenuity  of  the 
beaver  in  constructing  his  house,  of 
the  bird  in  building  its  nest,  of  the 
bee  in  forming  the  comb  :  all  this  is 
in  sharp  contrast  with  the  poverty  and 
helplessness  of  man  in  the  savage 
state.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  price 
the  animals  have  to  pay  for  the  power 
they  possess,  nor  reflects  that  they  too 
do  learn,  and  suffer  anxiety  and  pain. 
Again  the  service  rendered  to  him  by 
several  animals — as  the  ox,  who  with 
all  his  strengt  his  still  so  patient — dis- 
poses the  savage  to  regard  the  beast 
as  a  being  worthy  of  respect,  and  by 
no  means  as  the  pattern  of  stupidity. 

This  exposition  of  the  relations 
between  the  savage  and  the  brute 
which  is  based  on  the  results  of  obser- 
vation, is  also  confirmed  on  every  side 
by  observation.  We  find  the  best  il- 
lustration of  this  in  the  Animal  Le- 
gend (Thiersage),  as  it  is  found  among 
our  Germanic  ancestors,  "  a  form  of 
composition  which  could  have  its  or- 
igin only  when  men  were  in  a  very 
primitive  state,  and  men  and  an- 
imals consorted  together  intimately 
and  with  a  childlike  ingenuousness." 


Vilmar's  remarks  on  this  subject  are 
apposite  :*  "  The  root  of  this  le- 
gend "  (Reynard  the  Fox),  says  he, 
"  lies  in  the  guileless  natural  simplic- 
ity of  primitive  man;  in  the  deep  and 
kindly  instincts  of  a  sound  and  vigor- 
ous savage  race.  As  they  conceive  a 
cordial  and  even  passionate  attach- 
ment for  Nature  in  her  varying 
phases  ;  exulting  with  her  in  the  mild- 
ness of  the  spring  time  and  in  the  gen- 
ial heat  of  summer,  sharing  the  mel- 
ancholy of  autumn,  and  in  winter  giv- 
ing themselves  up  to  the  torpor  which 
reigns  all  around  :  as  they  attribute 
to  these  different  phases  of  Nature  an 
individuality  like  their  own,  with  like 
emotions,  and  develop  these  concep- 
tions in  the  form  of  grand  myths,  in 
which  the  creatures  of  imagination  are 
represented  now  as  kindly  and  gra- 
cious, again  as  awful  and  majestic,  as 
they  appear  respectively  in  Siegfried 
and  Brunhild  :  so,  very  naturally,  they 
form  a  very  close  and  affectionate  at- 
tachment for  the  brute  creation,  their 
nearer  neighbors  and  their  closer  kin- 
dred. Nay,  more,  they  admit  them 
to  intimate  association  with  them- 
selves, as  though  they  were  truly  and 
essentia! ly,  and  not  by  adoption,  or 
by  imaginative  fiction,  members  with 
themselves  of  one  society.  It  is  the 
pure,  innocent  delight  which  the  sav- 
age takes  in  contemplating  the  brute 
creation — their  lithe  figure  and  flash- 
ing eye,  their  courage  and  ferocity, 
their  cunning  and  agility  ;  it  is  his 
knowledge  of  their  habits  derived 
from  the  daily  experiences  of  a  life 
lived  in  common  with  them  that  gave 
rise  to  these  fables  of  animals,  to  the 
animal-epic.  But  such  life-experience 
can  be  obtained  by  man,  only  when  he 
studies  the  animal  with  a  calm  and 
affectionate  interest ;  when  he  con- 
templates its  inmost  nature,  its  most 
recondite  characteristics  ;  when  he 
not  alone  shares  himself  the  nature  of 
the  animal,  but  also  in  turn  gives  to 
the  animal  a  share  in  his  own  human 
faculties  of  thought  and   of   speech, 


*Vilmar,  Literaturgeschichte,    I.  244  ff.  8 
Aufl. 


I  I   I  h   iii.sm. 


.md  attributes  to  the  animal's  actions 
the  same  importance,  the  same  intel- 
ligent direction,  which  In-  claims  for 
his  own.  This  mutual  commen 
Brute  and  Man  is  the  absolute  condi- 
tion "i  the  Thiersage.  The  brute  of 
the  legend  is  not  .1  mere  brute,  oi 
nature  quite  diverse  from  man's,  and 
having  no  psychic  communion  with 
him:  but  no  more  is  ii  a  man  dis- 
guised  in  the  form  of  a  brute.  In 
the  formei  1  ase,  the  bi  ute  could 
never  be  the  object  of  poesy,  or  at 
least  would  not  furnish  the  true  mate- 
rial of  poesy,  action.  In  the  latter 
case,  su(  h  legends  would  be  only 
tedious  allegory.  The  charm  of  the 
legend  lies  precisely  in  this  dark 
background  where  the  brute  and  the 
man  have  so  much  in  common  ;  and 
on  this  background  we  must  not  suf- 
fer the  lights  of  our  belter  informed 
understanding  to  fall,  else  the  very 
essence  of  the  legend  vanishes." 

There  is  no  form  of  poetry,  as 
Meiners  thinks,  more  agreeable  to  the 
uncultured  mind  than  the  fable  ;  and 
in  point  of  fact  fables  are  extremely 
numerous  among  savages.  Their  ul- 
timate basis  is  the  anthropopathic  ap- 
prehension of  the  brute  creation,  the 
dark  background  of  which  Vilmar 
speaks.*  Lessing  supposes  the  ob- 
ject of  the  fable  is  to  give  palpable 
shape  to  a  moral  truth.  Even  the 
Hottentots  have  a  large  collection  of 
animal-fables,  with  the  recital  of 
which  they  amuse  one  another.  The 
Negroes,  too,  "when  they  come  to- 
gether  to  smoke  tobacco,  or  to  quaff 
tlnir  palm-wine,  entertain  one  another 
by  telling  fables,  and  they  dress  up 
every  passing  occurrence  in  the  garb 
of  legend  or  fable.  'The  Spider,' 
to  give  one  example, '  the  Spider  would 
lay  out  a  plantation,  and  set  to  work 
about  it  vigorously  without  delay. 
But  he  had  not  got  the  ground  ready, 
when  the  seeding-time  was  gone  by  : 
and  the  same  thing  occurred  year 
after  year.  The  Termite  who  would 
build  him  a  palace,  .having  noticed 
this,    called    together    his    neighbors, 

•      *Cf.  Waitz,  II    180. 


his  slaves  and  his  friends,  t"  give  him 
their  aid  ;  ami  lo  !  after  a  short  time, 
the  work  was  finished.  Then  said 
the  Termite  to  the  Spider  :  "  If  you  had 
hut  done-  as  1  did.  your  plantation 
would  have  been    laid    out    long  ago." 

I  once,  in  talking  with  a  Negi  amed 
Quan,  reproached  his  people  with  hav- 
ing killed  off  all  the  elephants  tor  the 
sake  of  their  ivory,  and  his  answer 
was  this  :  '  No,  u  e  have  done  no  such 
thing.  The  c  lephantS  knew  that  the 
while  man  wanted  the  ivory,  but  thev 
would  not  part  with  it  without  having 
something  in  return  :  so  they  went 
down  to  the  coast,  and  sold  their 
tusks  for  brandy.  Having  drunk  the 
brandy,  they  were  now  left  without 
anything — neither  tusks  nor  brandy. 
So  in  their  drunkenness  thev  became 
desperate  and  all  committed  suicide, 
and  that  is  why  there  are  no  longer 
elephants  in  Aquapin.'  "  * 

"  Man  in  his  lowest  stage  of  devel- 
opment considers  himself  and  the 
brutes  as  almost  alike,  the  difference 
between  the  two  being,  to  his  mind, 
rather  external  than  internal  and  es- 
sential. The  beast  has  a  soul  as  well 
as  man,  and  the  soVil  of  the  beast  is 
substantially  the  same  as  that  of  man. 
Men  and  animals  belong  to  one  race, 
and  are  identical  with  one  another  in 
sundry  points."!  How  easy  is  the 
transition  from  man  to  animal,  and 
vice  versa,  is  shown  in  ancient  German 
legends.  "  As  in  later  times,  after 
the  grim  legends  of  antiquity  have 
been  discredited,  men  become  wolves 
and  wolves  are  transformed  into  men, 
as  we  see  in  the  belief  in  the  Werewolf ; 
so  in  primitive  times  men  became  drag- 
ons." %  The  ancient  ballads  tell  of 
Siegfrid's  father  and  of  his  sister 
Signe,  how  they  were  transformed  into 
wolves,  and  assumed  all  the  savage  in- 
stincts. This  belief  in  "Marafilnas," 
the  lycanthropi  of  the  ancients,  ex- 
tends through  Abyssinia,  Senegambia 
and  all  eastern  Negro  lands  as  far  as 
the    Somali.     Especially    workers    in 


*/^.  343- 

t  Wuttke,  I.  107. 
\  Vilmar,  I.  121. 


FETICH  ISM. 


iron  are  supposed  to  transform  them- 
selves at  night  into  beasts,  and  then 
to  feast  on  human  flesh.  In  Fassokl 
the  Marafilnas  are  even  organized 
into  secret  guilds.*  The  Indians  in 
the  interior  of  Oregon  regard  beavers 
as  human  beings,  metamorphosed  by 
the  Great  Spirit,  in  punishment  of 
their  disobedience. t  In  Mexican 
mythology,  too,  we  rind  instances  of 
such  transformations.  Xapan  was,  for 
adultery,  changed  into  a  black  scor- 
pion, and  Tlahuitzin,  the  woman,  into 
a  red  scorpion  ;  and  Xaotl  was  chang- 
ed into  a  grasshopper,  for  having  over- 
stepped the  powers  given  to  him  by 
the  gods.t  Lycaon  was  by  Zeus  trans- 
formed into  a  wolf.  A  number  of 
German  myths  speak  of  the  mutual 
transformations  of  men  and  serpents. § 
The  Centaurs  and  the  Sirens  show 
also  how  readily  man  and  beast  coa- 
lesce in  Grecian  mythology. 

We  have  already  seen  from  the  in- 
stance cited  in  Chapter  II.  (the  Are- 
kunas)  that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
the  greatest  familiarity  between  the 
savage  and  the  wild  beast.  The  Ma- 
lays of  Malacca,  and  the  Orangs  con- 
sider the  stronger  animals  as  their  own 
equals — especially  the  shark,  whom 
they  regard  as  a  friend  and  a  brother, 
he  being,  like  themselves,  a  pirate. 
A  similar  view  is  taken  of  the  tiger 
and  the  crocodile,  and  this  view  pre- 
vails throughout  many    of    the   East 


*  Waitz,  II.  i So,  504. 

t  Cox,  Ross,  The  Columbia  River,  3  ed. 
Lond.  1832,  I.  231  ;  Dunn,  Hist,  of  Oregon 
Terr.     Lond.  1844,  p.  317. 

J  D.  Francisco  Saverio  Clavigero,  Hist, 
antigua  de  Mejico,  1.  vi.  p.  240 :  Entre  otras 
contaban  que  habiendo  emprendido  un  hom- 
bre  llamado  Japan  hacer  penitencia  en  un 
monte,  tentado  por  una  mujer,  cometio  adul- 
terio  :  por  lo  cual  lo  decapito  immediatemente 
Jaotl,  a  quien  habian  dado  los  dioses  el  en- 
cargo  de  velar  la  conducta  de  Japan.  Este 
fue  transformado  en  escorpion  negro.  Xo 
contento  Jaotl  con  aquel  castigo,  perseguia 
tambien  a  su  mujer  Tlahuitzin,  la  cual  fue 
transformada  en  escorpion  rubio,  v  el  misnio 
Jaotl,  por  haber  traspasado  los  limites  de  su 
encargo,  quedo  convert! do  en  langosta.  A 
la  verguenza  de  aquel  delito  atribuven  la 
proprietad  del  escorpion  de  huir  de  la  luz  y 
de  esconderse  entre  las  piedras. 

§  Grimm,  D.  M.  394  ff. 


India,  Philippine  and  South-Sea  Is- 
lands.* In  the  East  India  isles  it  is 
believed  that  sometimes  women  give 
birth,  not  alone  to  boys  and  girls,  but 
also  to  crocodiles,  and  the  latter  are 
never  killed,  but  carefully  placed  in  a 
crocodile  pond.  Many  of  the  natives 
have  their  crocodile  relatives,  duly  ac- 
knowledged, and  these  they  never  in- 
jure, t  Hence  the  savage  does  not 
hold  it  to  be  a  disgrace  to  be  de- 
scended from  beasts  ;  on  the  contrary,. 
they  boast  of  such  descent.  The 
Tlascalans  used  to  say  that  the  men 
who  escaped  in  the  Deluge  were  trans- 
formed into  apes,  but  that  they  by  de- 
grees recovered  the  use  of  reasori  and 
speech.!  Kadroma,  a  she-ape,  wife  of 
the  ape  Cenresi,  was  the  ancestress  of 
the  whole  population  of  Thibet.  The 
Thibetians  are  proud  of  this  de- 
scent, and  of  their  ape-like  ugli- 
ness of  feature,  which  they  trace  to 
their  ape  ancestors. §  Some  of  the 
Orang-Benua  trace  their  origin  back 
to  white  apes.  ||  According  to  the 
AleutiansH  and  the  Chippeways**  all 
men  are  descended  from  the  dog,  and 
hence  the  first  men  had  canine  paws. 
Other  N.  American  Indians  say  that 
a  woman  that  lived  with  a  clog  was 
the  mother  of  the  human  race. ft  The 
Delawares  suppose  themselves  de- 
scended from  the  eagle  ;  Jt  the  Tonka- 
way  trace  their  origin  to  the  wolf,  §§ 
others  to  the  raven,  ]|  ||  the  Osages  to 


*  J.  Hawkesworth,  Account  of  the  voy. 
undertaken  for  making  Discoveries  in  the  S. 
Hemisphere  by  Capt.  Byron  Wallis,  Carteret 
and  Cook,  1773.  Lond.  III.  758;  Marsden, 
Valentyn. 

t  Hawkesw.  III.  756,  757. 

t  Clavigero,  VI.  p.  225.  Cf.  Garcia,  Origen 
de  los  Indios. 

§  Klaproth,  Tabl.  hist.  p.  131. 

II  Borie,  in  Tydschr.  voor  indische  taal, 
land  en  volkenkunde.     Batavia,  X.  415. 

IT  Sarvtschew.  R.  in  Sibir.  II.  164. 

**  Waitz,  III.  191. 

tt  Hearne,  Voyage  from  Fort  Prince  Wallis 
to  the  Xorth  Sea   (Germ.  tr. ),  p.  2S1. 

XX  Schoolcraft,  V.  6S3. 

§§  Wrangell,  Statist,  und  ethnograph. 
Xachrichten  fiber  die  riiss.  Besitz.  in  Am. 
(in  Bar  and  Helmersen,  Beitr.  zur  Kenntn. 
des  russ.  Reichs.  Petersb.  1S39)  100,  11 1,  93  ; 
Holmberg,  Ethn.  Skizzen  lib.  d.  Volk.  des 
russ. 

Illl  Schoolcraft,  IV.  305. 


II   m  HISM. 


.1  serpent  transformed  into  a  man,  and 
married  t<>  the  daughter  <>f"  tin-  lien 
'  the  K.i\ use.  v  Perc»  ,  Walla- 
Wallas,  and  some  othei  trib<  s  are  de- 
scended, a<  i  ording  to  .1  tradition  held 
by  them  all,  from  the  various  mem- 
■  >t  the  beaver :  t  some  S.  Amei 
i<  .m  aborigines  from  a  lish,  others 
from  the  toad,  still  others  from  the 
rattlesnake.! 

Conversely,  several  animals  have  a 
human  origin.     In  Acra  monki 

i  "servants  ol  the  fetiches," — 
are  supposed  to  be  men,  whose  <  rea- 
tion  miscarried;  while  among  the 
olets  and  on  the  Island  ol  Mad- 
ar  they  are  supposed  to  be  men 
who  were  metamorphosed  on  account 
of  their  sins.§  The  Manitu  of  the 
Iroquois,  to  reward  a  man  w  ho,  though 
sore  pressed  by  hunger,  had  abstained 
from  human  flesh,  transformed  him 
into  a  beaver  ;  and  such  is  the  origin 
of  tlie  Beaver  totem.  A  Missouri  In- 
dian was  changed  into  a  snake  that 
had  the  power  of  speech. ||  ( >wing  to 
this  close  relationship  beasts  under- 
stand the  language  of  man,  and  vice 
versa.  In  Bornu  this  mutual  under- 
standing of  languages  Ceased  when  a 
man  betrayed  a  set  ret  to  a  woman. IT 
In  our  legends  and  stones,  too,  ani- 
mals speak,  as  did  Diomed's  steeds. 

The  souls  of  animals,  and  even  of 
plants,  enjoy  the  privilege  of  immor- 
tality.** The  souls  of  men  may  pass 
into  the  bodies  of  animals,  and  ani- 
mals' souls  into  men's  bodies.  Ani- 
mals which  root  the  bodies  of  dead 
men  out  of  their  graves  thus  make 
the  souls  of  the  deceased  their  own, 
devouring  soul  and  body  at  once. 
This  belief  is  oftentimes  the  founda- 
tion ol  the  s;i\  age's  reverence  for  ani- 
mals, as  is  the  ease  among  the  Kaffirs, 
who  make  an  offering  to  the  wild 
beasts  ol  the  bodies  of  the  dead.tt 

•Wilkes,    IV.  467,  apud  Waitz,  in.  345. 
t  Azai  a,  Vi.y.  1 1.  138. 
!  Garcilasso,  Commentar.  reales,  I.  18,  21. 
§  /''    178. 
M   '. .  Neuwied,  II.  230. 
bile,  African  Native  Literature.    Lond. 
1.  1 54. 

rgi,  Beschr.  S.  3S3. 

tt  Wait/,  II.  177. 


1  the  largei  beasts  the  savage 
often  attributes  a  higher  intelligence 
than  he  claims  for  himself,  A  very 
intelligent     Indian    seriously    assured 

Parkman  that  he  held  the  beaver  and 
the  white  man  to  be  the  most  ingen- 
ious of  people.*     Espei  tally  the  white 

beaver,   an    animal    which   appears   to 

exist  only  in  fable,  is  represented  as 
endowed  with  superhuman  powers.f 
( m  the  S<  negal,  in  Kordofan  and  in 
Brazil,  monkeys  are  possessed  of  a  hu- 
man understanding.  It  is  believed  by 
many  savages  that  monkeys  can  speak. 
but  refuse  to  do  SO,  lest  they  should 
be  forced  to  work. $  Dogs,  too,  can 
speak,  and  in  primitive  times  did 
speak:  but  since  the  time  when  the 
descendants  of  the  god  Kutka  sailed 
by  them  without  replying  to  their  in- 
quiries, they  have  proudly  refused  to 
speak  any  more.  It  is  only  strai 
that  they  bark  at  now.  or  rather  it  is 
only  strangers  to  whom  they  now  ad- 
dress the  question,  Who  are  you  ? 
Where  are  you  going?  So  say  the 
K.amtchatdales.§  The  Kaffirs'  say 
that  the  chameleon  and  the  salaman- 
der are  messengers  sent  on  important 
errands  to  man  by  the  god  I'mkulun- 
kulu.H  The  Chippeways,  like  the 
Atnas,  Kenai  and  Kolush.1T  suppose 
the  world  was  called  into  existence 
by  a  bird.  In  the  beginning  there 
was  only  a  vast  waste  of  water : 
above  this  was  poised  a  monstrous 
bird,  the  beating  of  whose  wings  was 
as  thunder,  the  Hash  of  whose  eye 
was  as  lightning.  He  swooped  down 
and  touched  the  sea,  and  at  once  the 
earth  came  to  the  surface  and  floated 
on  the  water.**  Birds  passed  for  be- 
ings gifted  with  extraordinary  wisdom 
anion-  the  ancient  ( Germans,  Greeks 
and    Romans.tt      The   American   In- 


•  lb.  III.  193. 

[ones,  Traditions   of  the  X.  Am.  Ind., 
2  ed.     Lond.  1830,  III.  <»>. 

J  Raffenel,  p.  90;  Riippel,  R.  in  Xubien, 
Kordofan,  etc.  Frankf.  1829,  S.  115;  Bos- 
mann,  II.  243;  Bowdich,  p.  195. 

S  Steller.  S.  280. 
!   Wait/,  1 1.  410. 

•  Wait/,  III.  179. 

**  M.  v.  Neuwied,  II.  221. 
tt  Cf.  Grimm,  I  >.  M.  S.  ;VSS  ff. 


FETfCHIS-M. 


dians  credit  the  owl  with  greater  in- 
telligence than  even  the  beaver  or 
the  rattlesnake,  and  treat  him  with 
the  utmost  reverence,  call  him  "grand- 
father," and  even  incense  him  with 
tobacco-smoke  —  a  solemn  offering, 
with  which  oftentimes  the  morning 
sun  is  greeted.  A  legend  represents 
the  owl  as  one  of  the  greatest  bene- 
factors of  mankind,  and  he  is  consid- 
ered to  be  the  king  or  chief  of  the 
snakes.*  In  Mexican  legend  it  was 
a  dove  that  taught  the  dumb  sons  of 
Cojcoj,  the  Mexican  Noah,  to  speak 
diverse  tongues  so  that  they  could 
not  understand  one  another.!  On 
the  mountain  Kaf  lives  the  monstrous 
bird  Anka,  endowed  with  reason  and 
speech,  known  to  the  Persians  under 
the  name  of  Simorg,  and  in  the  Tal- 
mud called  Jukneh.  The  books  of 
the  Zends  tell  of  four  sacred  birds 
which  are  the  guardians  of  the  earth 
and  of  everything  that  lives  thereon. 
Japanese  mythology  represents  the 
"bird  Isi  Tataki  as  the  cause  of  the 
propagation  of  the  human  race  ;  it 
was  from  him  that  the  original  divine 
pair  got  their  knowledge  of  marriage 
rites.  Chaldaic  legend  speaks  of 
four  worshipful  beings,  half  man,  half 
animal,  which  came  out  of  the  sea 
and  made  their  appearance  on  the 
bank  of  the  Euphrates  near  Babylon 
to  give  men  instruction.  The  name 
of  the  first  was  Oannes,  and  he  in- 
structed them  in  those  things  which 
are  pleasing  to  God,  and  gave  to 
them  religion,  laws,  science,  culture  ; 
while  it  was  the  business  of  the  other 
three  to  attend  to  the  improvement 
of  mankind  by  a  repetition  of  the  les- 
sons given  by  the  first.  The  Turks 
and  the  Arabs  say  that  the  cat  medi- 
tates upon  Mohammed's  law,  and 
that  she  will  share  with  the  faith- 
ful in  the  joys  of  Paradise,  and  they 


believe    that    the     horse    reads    the 
Koran.* 

From  what  has  been  already  said 
not  only  will  the  fetichistic  veneration 
of  animals  be  placed  in  a  clear  light, 
but  it  will  also  appear  that  such  ven- 
eration is  necessarily  incident  to  sav- 
age life.  And  it  is  the  animal  itself 
in  propria  natura,  and  without  any 
reference  to  any  divinity  he  may  rep- 
resent, that  is  worshiped.  "  The 
bear  that  is  worshiped  as  a  god  is 
regarded  as^a  true  bear:  the  snake 
that  is  worshiped  as  a  fetich  is  no 
mere  passing  theophania,  but  is  ever 
a  real  snake. "t  It  is  not  to  be  ques- 
tioned that  in  the  higher  stages  of 
development  the  worship  of  animals 
is  connected  with  the  cultus  of  spir- 
its ;  and  then  the  animals  are  consid- 
ered as  consecrated  to  the  gods,  and 
are  on  that  ground  worshiped  :  but 
that  is  beside  our  purpose. 

The  elephant  is  in  Africa  regarded 
as  a  superior  being.  The  Kaffirs,  out 
of  respect  to  his  understanding,  will 
not  eat  his  flesh.  And  yet  they  chase 
this  animal,  saying  at  the  same  time, 
"Do  not  kill  us,  great  chief;  do  not 
trample  on  us,  great  chief.'1  %  In 
Dahomey  he  is  the  "  great  fetich  "  of 
the  nation.  Though  the  Dahomans 
are  allowed  to  kill  the  animal,  still 
they  must  perform  a  longpurificatory 
ceremonv  after  having  slain  one.§ 
In  Siam  the  kings  used  once  to  ap- 
pear seated  on  a  white  elephant,  but 
that  custom  was  abolished,  for  the 
elephant  is  as  great  a  potentate  as  the 
king  himself;  and  in  him  dwells  a 
kingly  soul.  He  has  been  even  in- 
vested with  imperial  dignities. ||  The 
lion  was  worshiped  in  Arabia, IF  the 
tiger  in  Xew  Calabar  **  and  in  the 
East  India  islands.  In  Sumatra  the 
natives  give  the  tigers  warning  when- 
ever  Europeans  set  snares   to  catch 


*  Arvieux,   Mem.  mis  en  ordre  par  le  P. 
Labat.     Par.  1735,  III.  223,  252. 
t  YVuttke,  I.  82. 
|  Kav,  Trav.  and  Researches  in  Kaffraria. 


*  Parkman,  Hist.  Conspir.  Pontiac.     Loud. 
1851,  II.  135;  Jones,  III.  69. 

t  Clavigero,  Lib.  VI.  p.  225:  ...  .  tubi-  Lond.  1S33,  p.  125,  138. 

eron  muchos  hijos,  pero  mudos,  hasta  que  j  §  Forbes,  p.  9;  Kay,  p.  341. 

una  paloma  les  communico  los  idiomas  desde  [  Meiners,  I.  221. 

las  ramas  de  un  arbol,  pero  tan  diversos,  que  r\  Ibid.  S.  192. 

no  podian  entenderse  entre  si.                            I  **  Holman,  I.  371 ;  Kolen  61. 


> 


11.  lit   Hi.sM. 


them:  and  we  read  of  Tiger-titiesy 
where  thi  that*  hed  with 

women's  hair.  In  Acra,  too,  where 
almost  each  village  adores  as  its  fetich 
some  animal  peculiar  to  itself,  the 
hyena   is  d    as   sai  red.*      A; 

the  *  I  ■  iod  I  lope  they  will  not 

kill  the  leopard,  even  though  the  an- 
imal devour  women  ami  children. 
It  is  thought  in  Dahomey  that  those 

who  are  lorn  to  pieces  by  leopards 
art-  peculiarly  blest  in  the  next  life.t 
The  principal  object  of  worship  of 
the  West  Africa  negroes  is  the  wolf. 
\  soldier  belonging  to  a  Danish  fort, 

who  was  not  aware  of  the  sailed 
character  of  these  animals,  killed  one 
of  them.  The  indignant  natives  de- 
manded of  the  Fort  Commandant  a 
reparation  of  the  offense;  and  he  was 
compelled  to  yield  to  the  demand,  as 
the    :  threatened   to  quit   the 

district  if  he  refused  to  comply.  If 
satisfaction  were  not  made  the  mur- 
dered wolf  would  take  a  fearful  re- 
venue on  them  and  their  children. 
Accordingly  the  Commandant  had 
the  wolfs  body  wrapped  in  linen 
cloths,  and  provided  gunpowder  and 
brandy  for  the  solemn  rite  of  atone- 
ment. '1 'he  natives  having,  during 
the  grand  obsequies,  fired  off  the 
powder  and  drunk  the  brandy,  the 
wolf  was  propitiated  and  avenged. $ 
Some  negroes  worship  goats,  sheep 
and  rams.$  In  Xew  Calabar  the 
horse  is  worshiped,  and  in  Wadai 
this  animal  is  the  subject  of  many 
wonderful  stories,  and  of  a  multitude 
of  superstitious  beliefs. jj  Indeed  the 
horse,  as  also  the  ox  and  the  cow, 
have  been  regarded  as  sacred  the 
world  over.  The  religious  views  of 
many  Indian  tribes  with  regard  to 
animal-fetiches  are  very  curious. 
''The  highest  worship  is  paid  to  the 
Onkteri  Gods  who  created  the  earth 
and  man,  and  who  instituted  the 
medicine-dance.  In  form  they  re- 
semble    huge    oxen  :    amongst    them 


*  Bowdich,  p.  362 ;  Monrad,  ^. 

t  Fori 

\  Rom  Des  Marchais,  I.  297. 

£  Bastian,  82, 

i  Holman,  Koler,  11.  cc. 


the  spirit  of  Earth  holds  the  pre-em- 
inence, and  has  subject  to  him  the 
serpents,  lizards,  frogs,  the  owl.  the 

eagle,  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  etc. 
Another  1  lass  of  gods,  sub-divided 
multifariously,  is  that  of  the  Wakin- 
yan,  who  are  ever  at  war  with  the 
Onkteri,  and  who  are  principally  de- 
structive war-gods,  though  they  pos- 
also  the  creative  power.  To 
them  the  wild  rice  and  a  certain  kind 
of  grass  owe  their  origin.  In  form 
they  bear  a  fantastical  resemblance 
to  birds,  and  their  home  is  on  a  lofty 
mountain  in  the  west.  The  eastern 
gate  of  their  dwelling  is  guarded  by  a 
butterfly,  the  western  by  a  bear,  the 
northern  by  the  moose,  the  southern 
by  the  beaver,"*  etc.  The  worship 
of  the  beaver  is  diffused  throughout 
almost  the  whole  of  America.! 

Among  birds  it  is  the  owl  which  is 
most  frequently  chosen  for  a  fetich, % 
and  even  among  our  Teutonic  ances- 
tors this  bird,  as  well  as  many  others, 
w  as  esteemed  sacred. $  Many  ancient 
Arab  tribes  regarded  the  eagle  as 
their  Great  Fetich, ||  and  by  the  Syri- 
ans the  dove  was  worshiped. If 

In  Africa,  especially  in  Bonny; 
and  in  the  E.  Indian  Islands,  in  Suma- 
tra, Celebes,  Butong,  and  the  Philip- 
pines the  crocodile  is  the  principal 
object  of  worship.**  In  performing 
this  worship,  the  natives  go  down  to 
the  haunts  of  the  crocodile,  to  the 
sound  of  music  vocal  and  instrumental, 
and  throw  food  and  tobacco  to  the 
animals.  Nay,  even  in  Celebes  and 
in  Butong  tamed  crocodiles  are  kept  in 
the  houses, tf  probably  because  their 
presence  is  deemed  lucky ;  and  for 
this  same  reason,  the  Negro  of  Africa 
is  glad  when  he  finds  these  vener- 
animals  dwelling  near  his  hut 
without  fear.it  In  Madagascar  the 
cayman,  the  guardian  deity  of  Little 

*  Wait/,  III.  190. 

t  //-.  III.  193. 

\  Supra,  p.  77. 

vj  ( rmnm,  I  >.  M.  3S6-394. 

Meiners,  I.  192. 
•"  Xenoph.  Anab.  I.  4. 

**  Holman,  Kbler,  11.  cc. 
tt  Hawkesworth,  p.  757. 
j  J  k<  uner,  273  f. 


FETICHISM. 


Popo,  is  supposed  to  be  an  enchanted 
chieftain  of  old.*  When  the  cayman 
takes  any  prey  (so  say  the  natives  on 
the  Senegal)  he  calls  together  his 
friends  and  kindred  and  counsels  with 
them  when  the  holiday  is  to  be  kept, 
for  the  distribution  of  the  plunder.  His 
most  intimate. friend  is  a  bird,  a  kind 
of  crane,  which  watches  over  him  as 
he  sleeps  :  and  it  is  not  permitted  to 
kill  this  bird.f 

In  the  E.  India  Islands,!  as  in  Af- 
rica also,§  the  shark  is  a  mighty  fetich 
along  the  sea-coast.  Eels  are  worship- 
ed in  Cusaie  and  in  the  Marian 
Isles. ||  In  the  Carolines  the  God 
Mani  is  represented  as  a  fish. IT  "  At 
Eap  there  are  kept  in  a  pond  of  fresh 
water  two  fishes  of  extreme  age,  but 
yet  only  a  span  in  length,  which 
always  stand  in  a  right  line,  head  to 
head,  without  moving.  If  any  man 
touch  them,  and  they  are  made  to 
stand  at  right  angles  with  each  other, 
an  earthquake  is  the  result."**  Xeno- 
phon  states  that  the  ancient  Syrians 
paid  worship  to  fishes  ;tt  and  whoever 
ate  of  a  sacred  fish,  his  body  was  at 
once  covered  with  ulcers,  his  bowels 
shriveled  up,  and  his  bones  crumbled 
away  4$ 

"  Mysterious  in  its  whole  nature  ; 
amazingly  agile  though  without  limbs  ; 
strong  and  formidable  though  simple 
in  form  ;  of  no  great  size  and  yet  a 
match  for  the  most  powerful  animals, 
owing  to  the  instantaneousness  of  its 
attack  ;  gorgeous  in  its  variegated 
coat ;  silently  and  stealthily  lying  in 
wait  for  its  victim,  and  then  in  an 
instant  filling   him    with   terror — the 


*  Leguevel,  II.  223. 

t  Raffenel,  p.  29,  208. 

I  Marsden,  Hawkesworth,  11.  cc. 

§  Holman,  Koler,  11.  cc. 

||  bumont  d'Urville,  Voy.  de  l'Astrolabe. 
Par.  1830,  V.  121. 

IT  Schirren,  Die  Wandersagen  der  Neu- 
seelander  unci  der  Maurimythus.  Riga,  1856, 
S.  70. 

**  Gerland,  ap.  Waitz,  V.  2,137;  Chamisso, 
Bemerk.  auf  einer  Enldeckungsreise  ( 1 S 1  5— 
18).     Weimar,  1821,  S.  132. 

tt  Anab.  F.  4:  £~i  rdv  Xd'/ov —nraiiuv  -'/>',/>>,' 
^i^tfeur  11  ya/UJV  nai  -()(ieuv,oi>Q  01  Xvpot  -dcnrr 
iriiiiunr  ical  aftiKEiv  ovk  eluv  ovde  rag  irepiarepac. 

\  }  Meiners,  I.  193. 


Serpent  is  an  object  of  reverence  to 
the  savage,  and  is*  by  him  regarded  as 
a  mighty  being  of  a  higher  order."  * 
In  America,  Africa  and  Europe  ser- 
pents have  been  worshiped,  often- 
times, indeed,  as  being  possessed  by 
the  souls  of  the  departed,  but  often 
also  as  actual  fetiches.  The  reverence 
paid  by  American  Indians  to  the  rattle- 
snake was  the  means  of  saving  the  life 
of  the  Count  von  Zinzendorf  (1742). 
The  Cayugas,  with  whom  he  was  stay- 
ing, were  about  to  put  him  to  death, 
supposing  that  his  presence  was  pro- 
ductive of  ill-luck  to  them.  The 
Count  was  seated  one  night  on  a  bun- 
dle of  sticks,  writing  by  the  light  of  a 
small  fire.  Unknown  to  him  a  rattle- 
snake lay  alongside  him.  When  the 
Indians  who  were  to  take  his  life  ap- 
proached and  observed  the  snake, 
they  withdrew,  firmly  convinced  that 
the  stranger  was  of  divine  origin. f  In 
Europe  the  Lithuanians  worshiped  ser- 
pents, kept  them  in  their  houses  and 
made  offerings  to  them  :  yet  possibly 
they  may  have  supposed  them  pos- 
sessed by  the  souls  of  their  departed 
kinsmen.  We  find  mention  of  snake- 
worship  as  practiced  by  the  Longo- 
bardi,  in  the  Vita  Sancti  Barbati  in 
"Acta  Sanctorum."  |  Herodotus 
speaks  of  this  worship  among  the  Egyp- 
tians^ The  guardian  of  the  Athenian 
Acropolis  was  a  living  serpent. ||  But 
Serpent-worship  finds  its  highest  de- 
velopment in  Whida,  in  Africa. IT  The 
Egyptian  Apis  alone  can  compare  for 
importance,  power  and  sacredness 
with  the  marvelous  serpent  which 
once  gave  to  the  Negroes  of  Whida  tht* 
victory  over  their  enemies.  This  sei- 
pent,  which  never  dies,  is  held  so 
sacred  that  not  even  the  king,  but 
only  the  High-Priest,  durst  see  him 
face  to  face.  The  sanctity  of  this  one 
snake  confers  consecration  and  immu- 
nity upon  all  other  snakes  of  the  same 
species,  which  are  naturally  harmless; 


*  Wuttke,  I.  S2. 

t  Waitz,  III.  192. 

I  Grimm,  I').  M.  395  ff. 

§II-74- 

I!  Herod.  VIII.  41. 

•  Bosmann,  458  ff.  ;  Des  Marchais,  II.  153. 


- 


i  1    I  l<   1 1  ISM. 


and  it  is  a  high  <  rime  to  kill  them. 
While  Bosmann  was  in  Whida,  a  swine 
killed  one  of  these  snakes,  and  in  pun- 
ishment not  alone  was  the  individual 
transgress*  >r  put  to  death,  but  .1 
«ral  persecution  broke  oul  against  the 
whole  tribe  ol  swine.  Indeed  they 
would  have  been  utterly  extermii 

had  not  the    Serpent   granted    an    ain- 

nestj .  Ea<  h  time  the  crown  is  put 
upon  a  new  head,  the  queen-mother 
and  the  new  king  himself  make  a 
solemn    pilgrimage    to  the   temple  1  il 

the  serpent.  In  the  court  of  this 
temple  the  faithful  pronounce  their 
prayers,  and  offer  valuable  gifts.  Iii 
case  there  he  m 1  earthquakes  1  ir  other 
great  calamities,  which  would  necessi- 

special  offerings  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  the  dcity.Vhere  is  annually 
held  a  grand  festival,  when  hecatombs 
arc  offered.  Still  the  High-Priest 
may  at  any  time  demand,  in  the  name 
of  the  serpent,  offerings  of  valuables, 
herds,  and  even  human  victims:  and 
he  must  be  denied  nothing.  There 
d  in  the  service  of  the  temple 
a  numerous  h6stt)f  priests  and  priest- 
The  srrake's  harem  is  well 
stocked  with  beautiful  girls.  Every 
year  the  priestesses,  armed  with  clubs, 
go  about  the  country,  picking  out  and 
(  arrying  away  girls  from  8  to  1  2  years 
of  age.  for  the  service  of  the  god. 
These  children  are  kindly  treated  and 
instructed  in  songs  and  dances  in 
majorem  gloriam  of  his  Snakeship. 
In  due  time    they  are   consecrated  by 

ling  on  their  bodies  certain  fig- 
ures, especially  those  of  serpents.  The 
Negroes  suppose  it  is  the  snake  him- 
sell  that  marks  his  elect  thus.  Having 
their  training  and  consecra- 
tion, which  are  paid  for  by  the  parents 
according  to  their  means,  the  children 

n  home;  and  when  they  attain 
their  majority  are  espoused  to  the 
Serpent.  The  happy  brides,  tricked 
out  in  festival  array,  are  brought  by 
their  parents  to  the  temple.  When 
night  comes,  they  are  let  down  by 
twos  or  threes  into  pits  where,  as  the 
priestesses  aver,  the  authorized   prox- 

:  the  snake  await  them.  Mean- 
while  the   old    priestesses    sing   and 


dance  around  the  pits.  ( in  the  mora* 
ing  after  the  bridal  night  the  girl 

sent  back  to  their  homes  ;    there  these 

chosen  maids  have  never  been  known 
to  give  birth  to  serpents,  but  only  to 
perfectly  human  infants.  During  the 
remainder  ol  their  lives  they  enjoy 
eminent  privileges,  as  being  the  law- 
ful wives  of  the  god,  and  receive  a 
portion    of   all    the  sac  lilii  es    and  gifts 

offered  to  him.     They   are  permitted 

to  marry  a  human  spouse,  and  then 
their  power  over  their  husbands  is  un- 
limited. Should  the  latter  presume  to 
set  themselves  in  opposition  to  the 
will  of  their  divine  helpmeets,  they 
run  the  risk  of  being  assassinated 
by  the  priestesses  and  by  tin-  other 
spouses  of  the  god. 

Traces  of  animal-fetichism  are  to 
be  found  even  in  the  more  highly-de- 
veloped forms  of  religion.  The  Is- 
raelii ish  worship  of  the  Golden  Calf, 
and  of  the  golden  calves  set  up  bv 
Jeroboam  is  the  product  of  a  rude  in- 
telligence, as  yet  untitled  for  the  purer 
worship  of  Jab ve,  which  belongs  to  a 
higher  state  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment.* The  raising  up  of  the  Brazen 
Serpent  by  Moses,  the  sight  of  which 
healed  the  people  of  Israel,  would  ap- 
pear to  be  a  relic  of  ancient  serpent- 
fetichism.  (See  above,  Fernando  J'o.) 
Of  the  worship  of  animals  among  the 
Egyptians Bastian says :t  "At  Heliop- 
olis  and  at  Thebes, good  care  was  taken 
lest  travelers  should  peep  behind  the 
curtain.  But  when  the  specious  cloak 
of  philosophy,  In-  means  of  which  the 
Egyptians  imposed  on  their  neighbors, 
is  stripped  off.  but  little  is  to  be  seen 
beyond  ;*  What  we  should 

despise  as  stupid  fetichism  in  a  Negro 
tribe,  was  admired  as  the  profoundest 
wisdom  in  the  world's  metropolis. 
The  close  connection  between'  the 
usages  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and 
those  of  the  other  African  races,  is  too 
evident  to  be  overlooked." 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  sav- 
age does  not  view  his  fetich  as  a  be- 
ing so  exalted  that  in  no  case  he  may 

*  ('/.  Merx,  Art.  Abgottereei,  in  Schenkel's 
Bibellexikon. 

I  San  S.tlv.  S.  300. 


FETICHISM. 


81 


withhold  from  him  obedience.  His 
reverence  for  animals  is  all  the  more 
precarious,  inasmuch  as  he  is  fre- 
quently brought  into  collision  with 
them  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  as 
when  hunger  drives  him  to  use  their 
flesh  for  food,  or  when  he  is  obliged 
to  defend  himself  against  the  attacks 
of  wild  beasts.  In  such  cases  he  kills 
the  animal,  how  sacred  soever  it  may 
be.  The  divine  nimbus,  however, 
which  surrounds  the  animal  is  not 
thus  dissipated,  for  the  savage  will 
pay  due  reverence  to  the  body  of  the 
slaughtered  beast,  excusing  his  deed 
as  best  he  may  :  having  thus  appeased 
the  animal's  soul,  he  contentedly  feasts 
off  its  flesh,  and  clothes  himself  in  its 
skin.  "  Hail,  friend  from  the  spirit- 
land,"  is  the  salutation  with  which 
the  Indian  greets  the  snake  he  meets  ; 
"  we  were  unfortunate,  and  our  friends 
yonder  knew  of  it.  The  Great  Spirit 
knew  of  it.  Take  this  gift  of  tobac- 
co (sprinkling  tobacco  dust  on  the 
snake's  head) ;  it  will  comfort  you  after 
your  long  journey."  With  these  words 
he  seizes  the  snake  by  the  tail,  passes 
his  hand  dexterously  along  the  back, 
till  he  reaches  the  head,  and  then 
crushes  the  reptile  to  death.  He 
strips  off  the  skin,  which  he  wears  as 
a  trophy.*  "  Be  not  angry  with  us," 
say  the  Indians  to  the  bear  they 
have  killed,  "  for  having  slain  you. 
You  have  understanding,  and  know 
that  our  children  are  hungry.  They 
love  you,  and  they  want  to  eat  your 
flesh.  Is  it  not  an  honor  for  you  to 
become  food  for  the  children  of  the 
great  chief?  "f  Sometimes  they  ap- 
pease the  bear  they  have  killed  by 
placing  in  its  mouth  a  tobacco-pipe, 
into  the  head  of  which  they  blow,  fill- 
ing the  animal's  throat  with  smoke, 
and  meanwhile  asking  forgiveness. 
During  a  meal,  of  which  the  bear 
himself  is  the  principal  dish,  they  set 
up  his  head  on  an  elevated  place  and 
chant  songs  of  praise  in  his  honor.! 
The  Ostiaks   attach  the  head  of  the 


*  YVaitz,  III.  192. 

t  Lettr.  edif.  N.  E.  VI.  174. 

;  Charlevoix,  p.  117,  300. 


bear  to  a  tree,  and  pay  it  divine  honor  ; 
then  they  utter  their  laments  over  its 
carcass,  in  doleful  tones,  inquiring, 
"  Who  has  deprived  you  of  life  ?  "  and 
immediately  themselves  giving  the 
answer,  "  The  Russians  !  Who  cut 
off  your  head  ?  The  ax  of  the  Rus- 
sians. Who  has  stripped  you  of  your 
hide  ?  Some  Russian's  knife."*  The 
inhabitants  of  Northern  Europe,  from 
a  feeling  of  reverence,  never  call  the 
bear  by  his  own  name,  but  only  "  the 
old  man  in  the  coat  of  fur."  t  When 
the  Madagascans  kill  a  whale  calf, 
they  make  their  excuses  to  its  dam, 
and  entreat  her  to  go  away,+  just  as 
the  Kaffirs  do,  after  they  have  cap- 
tured an  elephant. § 

As  fetiches  generally,  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  already  explained 
(Ch.  III.),  are  regarded  as  the  causes 
of  phenomena,  which  in  point  of  fact 
stand  to  them  not  at  all  in  the  rela- 
tion of  effects,  so  too  those  animals 
which  are  worshiped  are  by  their  dev- 
otees arranged  in  causal  relati  on 
with  phenomena,  whenever  the  true 
cause  cannot  be  found.  Hence  the  Ya- 
kutes  regarded  the  camel  as  the  cause 
of  the  small-pox  (p.  24).  The  Mexi- 
cans first  became  acquainted  on  the 
one  hand  with  the  horse,  on  the  other 
with  ships,  when  the  Spaniards  came 
to  their  shores.  The  report  and  the 
flash  coming  from  the  guns  of  the 
latter  they  took  to  be  thunder  and 
lightning.  Who  produced  these  phe- 
nomena ?  Not  men ;  of  that  they 
were  quite  sure.  The  horse,  however, 
was  something  entirely  new  to  them, 
and  therefore  they  regarded  the  horse 
as  the  producer  of  the  thunder  and 
lightning,  and  on  this  ground  worship- 
ed him  as  a  god.  "  At  his  departure 
Cortez  left  with  these  friendly  people 
one  of  his  horses  that  had  received 
an  injury  in  the  foot.  The  Indians 
conceived  a   sentiment    of  reverence 


*  Isbrand,  Voy.  au  Nord.  VIII.  411. 

t  Georgi,  Beschr.  S.  14,  21. 

%  Owen,  Narr.  of  a  Voy.  to  explore  the 
Shores  of  Africa,  Arabia  and  Madagascar. 
Lond.  1S33,  I.  170. 

§  Moodie,  Ten  years  in  S.  Africa.  Lond. 
1835.  II-  333- 


I  1   riCHISM. 


foi  the  beast,  as  being  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  mysterious  power 
oi  the  white  man.  Alter  theii  visitors 
had  taken  their  leave,  they  offered 
flowers  to  the  horse,  and  pre] 
i.. i  him,  it  is  said,  many  savorydishes 
t.i  poultry,  such  as  they  were  wont  to 
prepare  for  the  sick.  The  poor  beast 
starved  to  death  with  such  novel  food. 
The  terrified  Indians  set  up  his  image 
in  stone,  in  one  oi  their  teocallis,  and 
worshiped  it  as  a  god.  When,  in 
k<\S,  two  Franciscans  came  to  this 
lo  ality  (which  was  then  as  little 
known  to  the  Spaniards  as  before 
Cortez's  visit)  to  preach    the   gospel 

there,  one  ot  the  most  notable  things 
they  found  was  this  image  of  a  horse, 
which  was  worshiped  by  the  devout 
Indians  as  the  god  of  thunder  and 
lightning."*  Jacob  Grimm  cites 
numerous  cases  of  animal-worship 
among  the  ancient  Teutons.  Thus, 
whoever  kills  the  haus-otter  (a  small 
innoxious  snake)  will  die  within  the 
year.t  The  killing  of  a  swallow 
i  which  is  a  sacred  bird)  causes  rain 
to  fall  for  four  weeks.!  The  giant 
eagle  Hraesvelgr,  in  Northern  mythol- 
ogy, causes  the  winds  by  beating 
his  wings  on  the  outer  verge  of  the 
earth.;;  The  dew  of  morning  is  the 
foam  that  falls  to  the  earth  from  the 
mouth  of  Hrimfaxi,  the  black  steed 
of  the  night. ]|  Skoll  and  Hati,  two 
gigantic  wolves,  are  ever  chasing  the 
sun  and  the  moon,H  and  hence  it  is 
that  the  latter  ever  speed  on — a  thing 
they  would  not  do,  were  it  not  that 
they  feared  being  overtaken  by  the 
wolves.  Eclipses  of  sun  and  moon 
occur  when  the  wolves  overtake  their 
prey,  and  have  commenced  to  gulp 
them  down:  but  fortunately  the  vic- 
tims have  so  far  been  always  success- 
ful in  making  their  escape.  In  Orien- 
tal fable  the  dragon  takes  the  wolf's 
place.  The  serpent  Jormungandr, 
which  lives  in    the   sea,  encloses    the 


*  Prescott,  Conq.  Mix.  II.  369. 
I   1 1.  M.  Anh.  Abcrglaube  Nr.  143. 
\  lb.  Nr.  $78. 
§  I).  M.S.  361. 
D.  M.S.  36S. 
\  D.  M.  S.  401. 


whole  earth  in   his   folds.     When   he 

drinks   there    is    ebb  :     but    when     he 

water,    there    is   flow   oi    tide. 

In  the  mythology  of  Japan  and  China. 

wlun    the  dragon  Tat  quits   the  sea 

to   saunter  through   the    air,   we   have 

the  waterspout. 

7.  Mm  (?s  Fetiches. 

A  fetii  h  is  an  object  perceptible  by 
the  senses,  to  which,  anthropopath- 
ically    apprehended,    man    attributes 

Causal  power,  and  which  he  worships. 
Heine  objects  the  most  widely  di- 
verse becomes  fetiches.  Hence  too, 
man  himself,  if  the  conditions  unite 
in  him,  will  be  a  fetich.  Both  in  Af- 
rica and  in  America  identical  views 
are  taken  of  those  individuals  who 
possess  any  extraordinary  deformity, 
whether  of  body  or  of  mind — for  in- 
stance, albinos,  dwarfs,  hunchbacks, 
fools,  etc.  In  Bornoo  albinos  are  ob- 
jects of  fear,  as  beings  gifted  with  su- 
pernatural power;*  in  Senegambia, 
if  they  are  slaves,  they  are  given  their 
freedom,  are  exempted  from  all  labor, 
and  are  cheerfully  supported  at  others' 
expense. t  In  Congo  the  king  keeps 
them  in  his  palace,  as  "  fetiches 
which  give  him  influence  over  the 
Europeans."  %  They  are  held  in  such 
respect  that  they  may  take  whatever 
they  will  ;  and  he  who  is  deprived  of 
his  property  by  them,  esteems  himself 
honored.  In  Loango  they  are  es- 
teemed above  the  Gangas,  and  their 
hair  is  sold  at  a  high  price  as  a  holy 
relic. §  Thus  may  a  man  become  a 
fetich. 

This  fetichistic  worship  of  man  is  a 
totally  different  thing  from  the  respect 
which  is  paid  to  the  man  whose  ex- 
traordinary power  is  due  simply  to  the 
fact  that  he  is  the  owner  of  certain 
mighty  fetiches.  This  is  the  case  with 
the  ordinary  fetich-priest,  and  with 
many  kings,  who  by  means  of  their  fe- 
tiches  may  decree   favorable  or  unfa- 


*  Kolle,  p.  401. 

t  Raffenel,  Nouv.  Voy.  dans  le  pays  des 

s.     Par.  1S56,  I.  230. 
I  Bastian,  34. 
§  Proyart,  172. 


FETICHISM. 


83 


vorable  weather,  etc.,  as,  for  instance, 
when  Ogautan  and  Mondull  in  the 
saga,  by  shaking  their  weather-bag 
(vedhrbelgr)  cause  wind  and  tempest ; 
or  when  the  Swedish  king  Eirikr,  sur- 
named  Weather-hat  (vedhrhattr), 
caused  the  wind  to  blow  from  the 
point  toward  which  he  turned  his  hat.* 
But  if  such  power  was  attributed  to 
the  individuals  themselves,  and  not  to 
their  fetiches,  then  they  themselves 
became  fetiches.  Thus  the  Chitome 
of  Congo  is  regarded  as  a  fetich,  as 
also,  probably,  the  king  of  Usambara, 
whose  power  is  so  unlimited,  that  one 
of  his  subjects,  describing  the  actual 
relation  between  ruler  and  subject, 
said  :  "  We  are  all  the  slaves  of  the 
Zumbe  (king)  and  he  is  our  Mulungu 
(god)."  t  The  Tamol  of  the  western 
Caroline  Islands  appears  to  belong  to 
the  same  class  as  the  Chitome. t  The 
nobility  in  those  islands  have  unlim- 
ited power  over  the  people,  but  they 
themselves  in  turn  are  subject  to  a 
Tamol  in  each  separate  island,  and  he 
is  absolute  monarch.  Whoever  ap- 
proaches him  on  business,  must  come 
with  his  head  bowed  down  to  the 
level  of  his  knees.  He  takes  his  po- 
sition in  silence,  and  awaits  the  Ta- 
mol's  order  to  speak.  The  potentate's 
words  pass  for  those  of  a  god,  and  his 
hands  and  feet  are  kissed  as  often  as 
a  petition  is  addressed  to  him.  The 
idolatrous  worship  of  the  princes  of 
Tonga,  whose  touch  suffices  to  make 
any  object  holy,  also  appears  to  be 
fetichistic.  But  of  a  different  kind 
was  the  honor  which,  for  instance,  the 
Mexicans  paid  to  Cortez  ;  §  the  Sand- 
wich Islanders  to  Captain  Cook  ;  || 
the  Kamtchatdales  to  the  first  Rus- 
sian seen  by  them  ;  1[  the  inhabitants 
of  Cassegut  to  De  Brue  ;**  the  Gil- 
bert Islanders  to  the  Scotchman 
Wood  ;  ft  the  Oatafians   to    Captain 

*  Grimm,  D.  M.  S.  368. 
t  Krapf,    Reisen  in    O.  Afrika  (1837-55). 
Stuttg.  1S58,  I.  291,  note. 

t  Gerland  ap.  Waitz,  V.  2,  116. 

§  Acosta,  p.  204. 

||  Cook's  Last  Voyage,  III. 

If  M tiller,  Sammlung  russ.  gesch.  III.  19. 

**Labat,  Vov.  V.  172. 

tt  Gerland,  V.  141. 


Hale.*  In  these  cases  the  motive 
was  different :  these  white  men  were 
considered  gods.  Hence  they  were 
viewed  not  from  the  fetichistic  stand- 
point, but  from  that  of  polytheism,  the 
origin  of  which  we  have  already 
pointed  out.  On  this  account  the 
Gilbert  Islanders  carried  Wood  about 
in  their  arms,  and  the  Oatafians  en- 
tertained Hale  (whose  ship,  as  they 
thought,  had  come  down  from  heaven) 
with  solemn  dances,  lest  they  should 
offend  the  deity ;  and  answered  his 
questions  in  song.  The  white  men 
were  identified  with  deceased  ances- 
tors,t  being  supposed  to  be  the  latter 
either  in  propriis  personis  or  in  their 
ghosts.  Accordingly,  here  we  have  no 
fetichistic  worship.! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    HIGHEST    GRADE    OF    FETICHISM. 

i.  The  New  Object. 

All  the  objects  which  we  have  so 
far  considered  as  fetiches,  how  much 
soever  they  may  differ  among  them- 
selves, have  this  in  common,  that  they 
exist  in  man's  immediate  environ- 
ment :  that  they  are  within  his  reach, 
and  almost  all  tangible.  They  are 
all  circumscribed  by  the  limits  of 
earth,  and  mostly  confined  to  the  very 
spot  which  is  the  savage's  own  hab- 
itat :  he  necessarily  comes  in  contact 
with  them,  nor  is  there  any  need  of 
special  search  to  find  them  out. 

Furthermore,  all  the  objects  which 
the  savage  in  the  lowest  stage  of  in- 
tellectual development  considers  use- 


*  Hale,  Eth.  and  Philol.  (U.  S.  Exp.)  Phil. 
1846,  151  seq. 

t  Cf.  Gerland,  V.  141. 

tThis  fifth  chapter  makes  no  pretension  to 
an  exhaustive  treatment  of  its  topics.  Its 
object  is  simply  to  indicate  the  principal 
points  of  view,  from  which  the  various  ob- 
jects of  fetich  worship  are  to  be  regarded,  with 
reference  to  the  matter  in  hand.  To  collect 
and  describe  all  the  forms  of  fetichism  in 
use  among  the  various  races  of  men,  will  fur- 
nish matter  for  as  many  special  investiga- 
tions as  there  are  peoples  and  religions. 


11    Mi    IIIsM. 


ful  oi  desirable,  belong  in  like  man- 
ner to  the  earth  ;  as  .ill  his  aspira- 
tions ami  all  his  interests  are 
cerned  with  earthly  things.  For  what 
interests  lias  he?  Those  ol  a  spirit- 
ual nature  are  unknown  to  him,  and 
those  which  he  does  recognize  have 
reference  simply  to  his  physical  well- 
being;  his  bodily  appetites  are  the 
only  stimuli  which  excite  his  will, 
and  engage  his  whole  attention.  But 
how  is  he  to  gratify  these  appetites? 
The  sky  with  all  its  stars  will  not  ap- 
pease his  hunger,  nor  has  the  firma- 
ment power  to  sate  his  lust.  The 
gratification  of  these  appetites  is  to  be 
found  oid_\-  here  below.  It  is  the 
eanh  alone  that  can  give  him  the  ob- 
of  his  desire,  and  he  has  no  wish 
for  the  things  lying  beyond.  For  us 
these  earthly  objects  are  become  also 
objects  of  higher,  more  spiritual  in- 
terest, inasmuch  as  we  have  made 
them  objects  of  knowledge  ;  but  they 
are  not  at  all  objects  for  the  savage 
in  this  sense.  He  has  no  desire  of 
knowledge  for  knowledge'  sake  :  he 
desires  things  only  so  far  as  they  can 
gratify  his  grosser  passions.  What- 
soever does  not  minister  to  these,  is 
of  no  interest  for  him,  is  no  object  for 
him,  does  not  arrest  his  attention  ;  just 
as  animals  "  in  the  state  of  fret 
only  have  perfectly  clear  conceptions 
of  the  few  things  which  are  closely 
connected  with  their  daily  wants  and 
with  their  daily  life,  but  suffer  every- 
thing else  to  pass  by  almost  unno- 
ticed."'* A  plant  is  an  object  for  the 
savage  only  in  so  far  as  it  may  supply 
food  :  it  has  no  value  for  him  as  a 
botanical  specimen,  and  it  is  only  as 
an  article  of  food  that  it  can  interest  j 
him.  These  mere  bodily  interes 
his  are  amply  secured  within  the  nar- 
row earthly  world  with  which  he  is 
acquainted.  So  long  as  he  experi- 
ences none  but  simply  physical  inter- 
ests, he  rests  content  with  his  con-: 
traded  world,  and  his  mind  remains 
confined  within  its  narrow  sphere.  If 
therefore  his  world  is  to  extend  its 
limits,  and  his  mind  to  take  a  broader  ■ 

*  Waitz,  I.  329.  I 


range,  he  must  experience  some  high- 
er interest.  But  now  the  will  is  never 
without  its  objei  t.  never  stands  by  it- 
self as  will  simply,  but  always  as  will 
determined^  always  as  will  <  1  i  1  • 
towards  an  object:  and  it  ever  ex- 
tends just  as  far  as  its  obje<  ts.  If 
therefore  a   higher  will,  a  higher  in- 

is   to   be    awakened,   a    new  ob- 
ject must  necessarily  be  attained,  by 
impelling   toward   whit  h   the   em 
of  the  will  we  give   them  a    new  <i 
tion  and  elevate  them,      but   of  what 
kind   must   this  object  be,  in  ore 
awaken  a  new  and  a  higher  interest  ? 

To  arouse  such  interest  in  the  sav- 
mind  it  must  be  adapted  to  the 
savage's  modes  of  apprehension.  If 
it  had  no  aspect  which  the  savage 
mind  might  grasp,  it  could  excite  in  it 
no  interest.  Let  us  see  the  mode  and 
the  measure  of  the  savage's  mental 
grasp.  Abstract  ideas,  spiritual  con- 
ceptions, purely  mental  phenomena 
are  to  him  unintelligible,  and  con- 
sequently uninteresting.  indifferent- 
He  apprehends  only  what  is  appre- 
hensible through  the  senses,  or  what 
he  can  see.  The  new  object,  there- 
fore, if  it  is  to  excite  an  interest  in 
his  mind  must  be  one  that  is  appre- 
hensible through  the  senses. 

But  the  new  object  must  awaken  in 
him  a  higher  interest  than  any  he  has 
hitherto  known,  and  to  this  end  the 
interests  which  hitherto  have  stimu- 
lated him  must  in  some  degree  be  re- 
pressed. Now  it  is  the  new  object 
which  lias  to  do  this.  Let  us  see 
what  kind  of  objects  \\\\\  fail  to  dis- 
place the  old  intei.  sts,  . .  1  in  other 
words  the  bodily  appetites  of  hunger 
and  lust,  and  the  natural  emotions 
such  as  joy  and  anger,  which  have 
been  hitherto  supreme.  The  savage 
has  so  far  recognized  only  these,  and 
has  prized  only  such  objects  as  an- 
swer to  them.  So  long  as  he  comes 
in  contact  with  such  objects  as  these, 
so  long  will  this  class  of  interests  be 
served  and  go  on  growing.  The  ob- 
jects therefore  which  answer  to  these 
appetites  and  passions  will  never  tend 
to  check  the  growth  of  inferior  inter- 
ests.    They  are  only  to  be  repressed 


FETICHISM. 


85 


by  some  object  not  answering  to 
them,  nor  tending  to  enhance  them, 
but  which,  nevertheless ^  can  engage 
the  savage's  attention.  If  it  can  do 
this  without  at  all  gratifying  his  bod- 
ily appetites,  the  will  of  the  savage 
will  be  thereby  to  a  certain  degree 
weaned  of  these  appetites  and  turned 
in  a  new  direction,  i.e.,  will  have  a 
new  interest.  Therefore  the  new  ob- 
ject must  not  serve  in  any  way  for 
the  gratification  of  sensuous  desire  ; 
for  whatsoever  has  that  tendency  be- 
longs to  the  sphere  of  the  lower  in- 
terests, and  so  to  the  sphere  of  pure 
savagery.  And  conversely,  every- 
thing that  has  hitherto  been  com- 
prised within  the  sphere  of  the  sav- 
age serves,  in  so  far  as  his  interests 
are  centered  in  it,  to  gratify  these  sen- 
suous desires,  they  being  as  yet  his 
only  interests.  Hence  every  object 
which  lies  within  his  immediate 
sphere  is  liable  at  any  time  to  be- 
come merely  the  object  of  these  de- 
sires. If  then  the  new  object  is  to 
be  of  such  a  nature  that  it  will  not 
answer  to  these  desires,  it  must  be  so 
remote  from  the  savage's  immediate 
sphere  that  these  sensuous  desires 
can  never  in  it  find  their  gratification  : 
and  it  must  ever  stand  on  a  plane 
high  above  these,  never  beneath  them. 
Such  grand  objects  as  a  mountain  or 
the  sea  do  not,  it  is  true,  serve  to  ap- 
pease hunger  or  to  gratify  lust,  but 
still  they  may  in  some  manner  be 
subordinated  to  the  savage's  will  and 
desire  :  he  can  ascend  the  mountain, 
set  his  foot  upon  its  summit,  break  | 
fragments  of  rock  from  it,  etc.;  he 
can  sail  upon  the  sea,  take  water  out 
of  it,  scourge  it,  etc.  And  so  every ' 
object  upon  the  earth  may  be  brought 
into  subjection  to  his  power ;  and 
hence  the  new  object  must  lie  entirely 
beyond  the  limits  of  earth,  and  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  his  sensuous  de- 
sires. But  now  since  it  can  in  no 
way  gratify  these  desires,  and  still 
must  excite  an  interest  in  the  savage's 
breast,  how  is  it  to  attain  its  end  ? 
As  we  have  seen,  it  must  not  be  an  ! 
object  of  sensuous  gratification,  nor 
yet  an  object  for  use  or  for  consump- 1 


tion.  But  if  the  savage  cannot  em- 
ploy it  for  sensuous  gratification,  and 
yet  is  to  make  it  an  object  of  contem- 
plation, his  attitude  towards  it  must 
be  one  of  attention,  gazing,  observa- 
tion. Hence  the  new  object,  which 
is  to  repress  sensuous  desire,  must  be 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  rivet  the  atten- 
tion, and  to  draw  upon  itself  the  gaze 
of  the  savage.  It  must  therefore  be 
visible,  and  as  has  been  already  said, 
an  object  apprehensible  by  sense. 
Now  what  is  that  object  of  sense 
which  alone  can  rivet  his  attention, 
and  yet  never  be  subordinated  to 
man's  use?  Since  it  must  not  lie 
within  the  sphere  of  his  sensuous  de- 
sire, it  must  consequently  lie  without 
the  earth  :  and  yet  it  must  be  observ- 
able by  the  senses,  and  specially 
fitted  to  engage  the  attention — hence 
something  noteworthy  and  wonderful 
which  shall  surpass  all  things  else  in 
splendor.  But  now  if  this  object 
could  be  contemplated  and  its  prop- 
erties ascertained  in  a  moment  it 
could  engage  the  attention  of  the  sav- 
age only  for  a  brief  space,  and  then 
he  would  be  again  free  to  give  himself 
up  anew  to  merely  sensuous  gratifica- 
tion. The  new  object  must  therefore 
not  alone  surpass  all  others  in  magni- 
tude and  splendor,  but  it  must  also 
be  so  vast  and  stupendous,  that  man 
may  find  no  end  of  contemplating  it, 
that  it  shall  lead  him  on  to  ever  new 
contemplations,  and  so  ever  withdraw 
him  from  ministering  to  his  sensuous 
appetites.  If  then  there  be  found  an 
object  which  irresistibly  challenges 
his  attention  merely  as  an  object  of 
contemplation  without  in  the  least 
gratifying  his  lower  passions,  he  has 
henceforth,  in  addition  to  his  former 
sensuous  interests,  a  new  one  which 
consists  in  observation,  contempla- 
tion :  and  this  new  interest  we  call 
an  intellectual  one,  as  contrasted  with 
the  other,  which  is  sensuous  or  mate- 
rialistic. 

Thus  the  savage  could  acquire  an 
intellectual  interest  only  through 
some  object  of  sense  lying  without 
the  sphere  of  his  passions,  and  hence 
extra-terrestrial,  which,  however,  was 


II    1  I'   III.sM. 


fitted  to  engage  his  attention  by  at- 1 

ng  his  gaze  :  whi<  I)  should  be 
possessed  of  preeminent  sensuous 
splendor  and  be  of  such  grand  pro- 

us  that  it  might  be  contemplated 
forever  and  still  ever  invite  to  fresh 
contemplation.  Now  ol  all  the  ob- 
jects in  the  universe  there  is  bul  one 
which  fulfills  all  these  requirements, 
and  that  is  the  Firmament  with  its 
countless  stars.     The  sky  is  the  new 

•.  being  perceptible  by  the 
sense— the  mightiest,  grandest  and 
most  stupendous  of  all  the  objects  ol 
sense,  with  its  blazing  sun,  its  shining 
moon,  it>  twinkling  stars,  its  rosy 
blush  at  morn  and  eve,  and  the  deep 
blue  of  its  mighty  arch.  By  the 
splendor  of  its  ever-changing  and 
sublime  phenomena,  it  invites  the 
savage  to  the  contemplation  of  itself, 
without  ministering  to  his  lower  na- 
ture. Thus  this  new  object  gives  to 
his  will  a  new  direction,  a  new  inter- 
est— that  of  contemplation,  of  thirst 
for  knowledge  :  an  intellectual  inter- 
est. 

We  must  go  back  in  imagination  to 
the  time  when  man  was  without 
knowledge,  when  all  was  ignorance, 
when  there  was  no  school  to  give  in- 
struction, as  instruction  is  given  now. 
Then  every  step  toward  knowledge 
was  an  advance  into  the  unknown 
land,  and  individual  observation  was 
the  only  schoolmaster.  But  .observa- 
tion was  limited  to  those  objects  which 
Nature  afforded  :  hence  Nature  was, 
after  all.  the  true  Teacher.  Were  it 
not  that  there  was  in  the  universe  an 
object  which  irresistibly  challenged  at- 
tention, without  ministering  to  man's 
lower  passions,  and  which  thus  in 
some  measure  diminished  the  force  of 
the  latter,  man  could  never  have 
risen  above  his  animal  instincts,  nor 
ever  have  conceived  an  intellectual 
interest.  Hence  wherever  the  savage 
has  no1  yel  made  the  heavens  the  ob- 
ject of  his  contemplation,  we  may  be 
sure  that  his  condition  is  that  of  ex- 
treme barbarism,  which  latter  however 
diminishes,  in  proportion  as  his  knowl- 

of  the   heavens  advances.     The 
firmament   is  the   first   object   which 


awakens  in  him  intellectual   interest 

ll   is  only  after  he    has  with    some    in- 

litest   contemplated  this  obje<  t.  that 

his  mind  goes  out  to  observe  the  uni- 
verse, tor  knowledge'  sake,  and  tu 
Study  the  Other  objects  upon  tin-  earth, 

as  objects  of  knowledge,  which  bi 

were    Only  Objects   Ol    desire.      This  is 

perfectly  consequent,  for  so  soon  as 
one  thing  is  regarded  with  intellectual 
interest,  all  other  tilings  will  b< 
garded  from  the  like  point  ol  view, 
since  they  are  all  mutually  related. 
Hence,  of  all  the  sciences  worthy  of 
the  name,  astronomy  is  the  oldest  and 
the  first  :  and  hence  too  do  we  find, 
even  in  the  remotest  historic  times, 
and  among  the  most  ancient  peoples, 
that  the  results  of  astronomy,  such  as 
tin'  ascertainment  of  the  year's  length. 
and  kindred  facts,  are  more  correctly 
apprehended  than  the  results  of  any 
other  science.  The  science  of  the 
heavens,  so  soon  as  there  is  any  de- 
mand among  savages  for  scientific 
know  ledge,  constitutes  the  first  object 
of  scientific  instruction.  I  have  said. 
scientific  instruction,  to  distinguish  it 
from  religious,  which  no  doubt  pre- 
cedes astronomical  instruction  :  but 
this  precedence  of  religious  instruc- 
tion is  due  simply  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  based  upon  a  total  ignorance  of 
Nature,  which  of  course  is  prior  to 
knowledge.  But  the  earliest  scientific 
knowledge  that  man  acquires  is  that 
of  astronomy.  Leaving  out  of  view 
the  instruction  the  savage  gains  as  to 
the  objects  in  daily  use.  even  the  rud- 
est of  savages  oftentimes  receives  re- 
ligious instruction,  but  never  anything 
that  can  lay  claim  to  the  title  of  scien- 
tific education.  If  therefore  we  any- 
where find  scientific  instruction  given 
(and  the  first  lessons  will  be  always  in 
astronomy)  we  may  confidently  assert 
that  mental  development  has  made 
considerable  progress.  This  is  veri- 
fied in  the  case  of  the  South-Sea  Is- 
landers in  the  Carolines.  Canova,  in 
describing  the  Caroline  Islands,  says, 
"  In  each  district  there  are  two  places 
of  public  instruction,  in  the  one  of 
which  the  boys,  and  in  the  other  the 
girls  receive  instruction  in  astronomy, 


FETICHISM. 


87 


as  far  as  the  natives'  knowledge  of 
that  science  goes.  The  master  in 
giving  his  lessons  uses  a  globe,  on 
which  the  position  of  the  principal 
stars  is  indicated  with  rude  art."  * 
Hence,  too,  astronomy  is  the  first  sub- 
ject-matter of  early  scientific  litera- 
ture. The  bonk.'  of  the  Mexicans 
had  on  one  page  mythological  figures, 
ritual  directions,  laws  and  the  history 
of  the  country,  while  on  the  opposite 
page,  out  of  all  the  objects  of  theoret- 
ical science,  they  set  forth  only  those 
of  astronomy  and  chronological  calcu- 
lations.t  The  "  innumerable  books" 
of  the  people  of  Yucatan,  whose  men- 
tal culture  was  about  parallel  with 
that  of  the  Mexicans,  give  the  con- 
stellations, chronological  calculations, 
and  the  fauna  and  flora,  and  political 
history  of  the  country. I  Science 
in  antiquity  developed  similar  phe- 
nomena in  its  beginnings,  and  the 
librarv  of  a  German  peasant  consists 
of  a  hymn  book  and  an  almanac. 

We  will  suppose  the  savage,  then, 
beginning  to  contemplate  the  heav- 
enly bodies  with  some  interest.  The 
phenomena  which  these  produce,  viz., 
light  and  heat,  and  all  the  effects  of 
these  latter,  have  so  wide  an  influence, 
and  so  intimately  concern  man  him- 
self ,  and  further,  it  is  so  patent  that 
these  heavenly  bodies  are  in  truth  the 
efficient  causes  of  the  phenomena, 
that  man  establishes  a  relation  be- 
tween them  and  his  own  life,  between 
them  and  all  Nature.  There  can  be 
nothing  on  earth  mightier  than  they, 
their  influence  pervading  all  space- 
they  are  supreme,  they  can  account 
for  everything,  they  are  for  man  Ulti- 
mate Causes.  But  these  causes  do 
not  for  him  operate  through  mechan- 
ical laws  •  they  are  not  for  him  inani- 
mate bodies,  being,  like  all  other  ob- 
jects, apprehended  by  him  anthropo- 
pathically.  Hence  they  have  life  and 
will,  even  as  man  himself — and  thus 
thev  become  the  supreme  fetiches. 
But  their  energies  are  not  restricted 
to  the  production  of  storms  and  tem- 

*(}erland  apud  Waitz,  V.  2.  no. 
t  Waitz,  IV    171. 
t  Waitz,  IV   311. 


pests :  man  sees  his  own  fate  as  de- 
pending upon  their  decrees.  The 
changes  which  he  observes  taking 
place  among  them  he  interprets  as 
tokens  of  their  good-will  or  their  en- 
mity,  their  favor  or  their  displeasure  ; 
and'  hence  it  is  that  the  early  contem- 
plation of  the  heavens,  as  being 
coupled  with  anthropopathic  appre- 
hension, is  necessarily  fetichistic,  and 
that  astronomy  makes  its  first  appear- 
ance as  astrology ;  hence,  too,  the  lat- 
ter precedes  the  former  chronologic- 
ally. 

2.  The  Gradual  Acquisition  of  Kfiowl- 
edge. 

Time  was  when  the  heavenly  bod- 
ies were  not  yet  an  object  of  contem- 
plation. We  do  not  say  that  then 
man  did  not  notice,  did  not  see 
the  sun,  moon  and  stars — even  brute 
beasts  have  so  much  cognizance  of 
the  heavens:  but  the  time  was  when 
man  had  no  definite  notion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  when  he  knew  noth- 
ing either  of  the  mode  or  of  the  regu- 
larity of  their  movements,  or  of  their 
periods  :  in  short,  when  his  knowledge 
of  them  was  limited  to  the  general 
sensuous  impression.  Later  he  comes 
to  see  in  the  heavens  an  object  made 
up  of  distinct  parts.  Between  the 
point  of  departure,  nescience,  and 
this  term,  knowledge,  lies  the  period 
of  gradual  acquisition,  where,  starting 
from  small  beginnings,  the  mind  ad- 
vances step  by  step  to  knowledge. 
Let  us  form  a  clear  conception  of  the 
order  in  which  the  heavenly  bodies 
would  by  degrees  come  to  be  known 
to  man,  and  we  shall  at  the  same 
time  understand  the  order  in  which 
they  presented  themselves  to  him  as 
objects  of  fetichistic  contemplation. 

When  he  begins  to  observe  the  sky 
with  its  various  phenomena,  his 
knowledge  is  limited  to  the  sensuous 
impression.  But  in  this  case  the  ob- 
server is  not  one  who  has  pushed  his 
investigations  deeply  into  other  sub- 
jects, and  now  to  this  new  investiga- 
tion brings  a  disciplined  mind  which 
can  keenly  analyze  the  phenomena; 


1  1    I  l<   lll.vM. 


■  •  inly  .in  o\ ergri iw n  infant,  with 

rs  ol  thought  .ill  undeveloped, 
Sin  h  an  observer  will  be  i  hiefly 
guided  by  the  impression  left  by  the 

:  on  hi-,  senses.  I  [em  e  that 
heavenly  body  which  appears  mosl 
striking  to  the  eye,  which  exhibits 
the  greatest  number  ol  varying 
phases,  and  which  is  easiest  observ- 
ed, will  first  attract  and  rivet  his  at- 
tention. Now  such  an  object  is  not 
the  Sun,  but  the  Moon:  and  hence 
we  find  that,  anion-'  savages,  the 
latter  is  worshiped  at  a  much  ear- 
lier period  than  the  former,  and 
3  i  msidered  of  higher  importance.* 
This  fact,  which  to  us  who  can  more 
truly  estimate  the  relative  importance 
of  the  two  luminaries,  appears  at 
first  glance  unaccountable,  admits 
of  a  very  easy  explication,  when  we 
consider  on  the  one  hand  the  exte- 
rior, sensible  aspects  of  the  two,  and 
on  the  other  hand  the  intellectual 
status  of  the  savage. 

In  the  fust,  place  the  savage  has 
in  the  day-time  little  leisure  for  the 
contemplation  of  Nature  in  general, 
or  of  the  Sun  in  particular:  he  must 
needs  find  his  daily  provision,  and 
this  care  engrosses  all  his  attention. 
For  the  more  perfect,  the  means  and 
the  implements,  the  machinery  he 
employs,  the  sooner  can  he  supply 
his  bodily  wants,  and  the  more  leisure 
he  lias  for  mental  development.  But 
the  less  developed  he  is,  the  clumsier 
are  the  means  at  his  command  for 
taking  his    prey,  and    the    more    time 

he  consume  in  gathering  to- 
gether  his  daily  provision  ,  and  hen<  e 
a  Tierra  del  Fuegian  is  his  whole  life 
long  occupied  with  this  one  care,  and 
this  is  his  sole  employment,  viz., 
to  gain  his  sustenance.  As  he  nei- 
ther sous  nor  plants,  and  as  the  des- 
ert region  in  which  he  lives  yields 
him  scarcely  one  natural  product,  he 
must  needs  he  restricted  to  this  one 
pursuit.  If  perchance  he  succeeds  in 
finding  a  sufficiency  for  the  present,  the 

h  has  weai  ied  him  and  he  seeks 
repose  in  sleep:  and  when  he  awakes 

*  Cf.  Wuttke,  I.  66. 


the  renewed  cravings  of  hunger  coin- 
pel  him  again  to  r<  sume  his  sean  h. 
Thus,  if  he  would  support  life,  he 
must  through  the  day  keep  his  eyes 
steadily   fixed   on    the   earth. 

then  the    Sun    is    no    sin  h    obj<  i 
would     through    the    day  very  forcibly 

i  laiin  the  attention  ol  a   man  whose 

mind    is  void    "I    thought,  and   whose 

only  (  are  is  to  still  the  <  ries  ol  hun- 
ger. All  nature  is  now  bathed  in 
light  ;  there  are  no  dark  shadows,  no 
i  i  mtrasts  ;  and  contrast  it  is  which 
enables  an  object  to  make  a  very  deep 
impression.  Day  with  its  light  is  a 
very  common  occurrence — it  is  in- 
deed a  fact  of  daily  experience.  But 
suppose  that  the  man  directs  his  gaze 
toward  the  sun:  beyond  its  daily 
traversing  the  heavens,  no  phases  are 
observable  which  might  readily  im- 
press the  savage  mind.  The  Sun 
changes  not  like  the  Moon  :  those 
changes  whirh  we  observe  in  the  place 
of  its  rising,  from  solstice  to  solstice, 
take  place  so  gradually,  and  require 
so  long  a  period,  that  only  close  ob- 
servation can  detect  them  at  all  :  and 
for  this  the  savage  has  neither  the 
will  nor  the  perseverance.  Hence 
the  sun  is  an  object  rather  of  medi- 
tation than  of  contemplation  ;  and 
to  study  it  requires  a  rather  highly 
developed  understanding.  It  is  very 
different  with  the  moon.  At  night 
the  savage  has  finished  his  daily 
toil  ;  his  wants  are  supplied  :  hence 
he  is  now  at  leisure.  But,  most  im- 
portant of  all,  the  effect  of  contrast 
is  here  to  be  observed.  The  earth  is 
wrapt  in  darkness;  the  supersti- 
tious savage  meanwhile  shudders  with 
fear,  while  every  nerve  and  every 
sense  is  on  the  stretch.  Then  emer- 
ges from  beneath  the  horizon  the 
bright  orb  of  the  full  Moon,  round  as 
a  wheel,  red  as  tire.  Then  how  man- 
ifold are  its  apparitions,  the  like  of 
which  are  never  to  be  seen  in  the 
Sun,  and  which  are  specially  fitted 
to  call  forth  the  astonishment  of  man, 
and  to  invite  him  to  reflection.  Now 
she  is  fiery  red,  in  a  moment  pale  and 
wan  ;  at  one  time  a  majestic  full  orb, 
at  another  wasted  away,  and  resemb- 


FETICH  ISM. 


ling  a  sickle.  The  dark  spots  upon 
her  surface  lead  men  to  fancy  that 
she  has  a  human  face,  or  give  rise  to 
other  imaginations:  oftentimes  she 
is  totally  eclipsed.  In  short,  several 
peculiar  and  directly  visible  phenom- 
ena are  observed  in  the  moon,  which 
must  attract  the  attention  of  man, 
and  cause  him  thither  to  direct  his 
gaze.  He  will  also  attempt  to  assign 
causes  for  these  phenomena,  and 
these  attempts,  how  inept  and  anthro- 
popathic  soever  they  may  be,  still  will 
at  least  have  this  effect,  that  they  will 
connect  notions  together,  i.e.,  will 
serve  as  the  first  steps  in  thinking. 
Thus  then  we  need  not  be  at  all 
surprised  if  when  a  rude  people  first 
begin  to  contemplate  and  to  worship 
as  fetiches  the  heavenly  bodies,  the 
Moon  has  precedence  of  the  Sun.* 

But  after  the  Moon  has  become  an 
object  of  man's  contemplation,  it  is 
not  now  the  Sun  which  he  next  stud- 
ies, but  certain  stars  which,  as  they 
appear  in  the  gloom  of  night,  affect 
him  more  sensibly  and  offer  for  his 
contemplation  properties  stranger  and 
more  easily  observable  than  does  the 
Sun.  There  are  five  stars  and  con- 
stellations f  which  first  attract  the  no- 
tice of  man,  and  which  we  always  find 
recognized  by  such  savages  as  have 
even  made  a  beginning  in  the  study 
of  astronomy.  The  first  is  Venus, 
which  with  its  brilliant  light  attracts 
attention,  particularly  by  appearing 
first  of  all  the  stars  in  the  evening, 
and  vanishing  last  of  all  in  the  morn- 
ing— the  Morning  and  the  Evening 
Star,  which  at  first  passed  for  two 
distinct  luminaries,  and  which  Pytha- 
goras was  the  first  among  the  Greeks 
to  recognize  as  one.t  Next  is  the 
Ursa  Major,  the  Great  Bear,  or  the 
Wain,  which  never  drops  below  the 
horizon  in  the  northern  hemisphere  ; 
together  with  his  counterpart,  the 
Ursa  Minor,  the  Little  Bear;  both  of 
these  being  noticeable  from  their  pe- 

*  Cf.  W.  Whewell,  Hist.  Inductive  Sci- 
ences, Vol.  I. 

t  Cf.  Grimm,  D.  M.  S.  416. 

%  Whewell,  Hist.  Induct.  Sciences,  Vol.  I. 
106. 


culiar  form.  Then  that  chain  of  three 
brilliant  stars,  known  to  the  Greeks 
as  Orion,  which  the  people  in  Upper 
Germany  still  call  the  Drei  Mader 
(Three  Mowers),  because  they  resem- 
ble three  mowers  standing  in  the 
meadow  one  behind  the  other.*  Fi- 
nally, the  space  so  thickly  gemmed 
with  stars,  situate  between  the  shoul- 
ders of  Taurus,  and  of  which  chiefly 
seven  (more  exactly  six)  are  easily 
discernible  —  the  Seven  Pleiades, 
which  are  distinguished  as  being  in 
the  center  of  the  glorious  system  of 
the  Milky  Way,  and  which  gain  all 
the  higher  eminence  from  the  fact 
that  the  space  all  around  them,  to  the 
extent  of  six  of  their  diameters,  is  rel- 
atively poor  in  stars;  and  from  this, 
that  for  many  regions  of  the  South 
these  stars  never  set.  These  five  are 
the  first  to  be  recognized  :  they  are 
popular  stars  the  world  over.  It  is 
toward  these  that  Odysseus  directed 
his  eyes  when,  quitting  Calypso's  isle, 
he  takes  his  homeward  course  over 
sea : 

Aiirap  6  TzrjSa^JG)  I&vveto  rexvr/evrcjr 
"Hjuevoc-  ov6e  01  virvog  knl  filetiapoioiv  iirnrrev 
YiV.rjia.5oq  t'  iaopuvTi  nai  o^e  dvovra  Bourr/v 
"ApuTov  #',  i]i>  K(u  ajia^av  £~iiikjjOiv  icateuvoiv, 
"H  r*  avTov  OTpiQerai  nai  r'  'Qpiuva  Sokevei, 
"Oct/  6'ap.p.opog  egti  Aosrpcjv  'QuEavnio. 

Od.  V.  270  seqq. 

These  Hephaestos  represented  on 
Achilles'  shield  (II.  xviii.  487  seqq.). 
Of  these  it  is  said  :  "  Canst  thou  check 
the  sweet  influence  of  Chima  (Pleiades) 
or  loose  the  band  of  Kesil  (Orion)  ? 
Canst  thou  order  Mazzaroth  (Sirius) 
in  his  period  ?  or  canst  thou  lead  Aish 
(Arcturus)  with  his  sons  ? "  (Tob. 
xxxviii.  31.)  "Who  made  Arcturus 
and  Orion  and  the  Pleiades  and  the 
chambers  of  the  South?  "  (Tob.  ix.  9.) 
These  were  the  favorite  stars  of  the 
Ancient  Germans,  the  Sclavs  and 
the  Finns. f 

That  the  Moon  was  the  first  among 
the  heavenly  bodies  to  be  distinctly 
studied  by  man,  and  that  the  stars 
and  the  Sun  followed  after,  is  clearly 


*  Grimm,  D.  M.  417. 
t  D.  M.  416. 


I  I  Til   lll>M. 


ed  by  the  different  modes  of 
ming  time  al  \  ai  i<  >us  periods  and 
in  vai ions  nations.  The  m< • 
reckoning  by  Moons  is  the  primitive 
one.  We  meet  with  it  in  the  earliest 
histoi  i<  mm  ords  of  all  civilized  na- 
tions, and  hence  we  also  find  it  wher- 
ever .1  nation  is  in  the  lower  stages  ol 
development.  1  [ere  we  meet  with 
i<(  konings  by  Moons,  and  by  the 
ments  of  certain  stars:  but  never 
by  the  sun's  periods.  Nations  in  this 
stage  of  development  arc  raised  very 
derably  above  the  condition  of 
the  rudest  barbarism.  Last  comes 
the  reckoning  by  the  Sun.  and  this  in- 
dicates an  intellectual  status  which 
leaves  far  behind  it  the  barbarism  ol 
savage  tribes. 

Not  to  speak  of  the  civilized  na- 
tions of  Europe  and  Asia,  who  in  early 
historic  times  reckoned  by  moons, 
this  mode  of  reckoning  time  is  to  this 
day  followed  throughout  Africa*  by 
most  of  the  Negro  tribes,  as  also  in 
America,  by  the  aborigines.  The  In- 
dians of  the  latter  continent  generally 
on  thus,  and  their  months  bear 
the  names  of  various  objects  in  Na- 
ture, especially  animals  and  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  earth. t  "Like  most  of 
the  other  tribes,  the  Dakota  Indians 
reckon  twelve  months,  five  each  for 
Summer  and  Winter,  and  one  each 
for  Spring  and  Autumn,  and  add  an 
intercalary  month  every  second  year. 
According  to  Carver  (216)  and  Heck- 
ler this  intercalation  of  a  so-called 
"lost  month"  without  a  name,  oc- 
curred every  30th  month  :  but  accord- 
ing to  Kohl  (I.  1071,  every  year. 
S(  hoolcraft  (V.  419)  says  that  the  Al- 
gonquins  reckon  only  eleven  months, 
whi(  h  aic  brothers,  and  take  to  wife, 
in  succession,  one  woman,  the  Moon. 
The  Algonquins  do  nol  appear  to  find 
any  difficulty  in  the  fact  that  between 
winter  and  winter  there  are  now  12 
now    [3  months. | 

The   next   step   in  astronomy  is  to 

reckon  time  by  the  moon  and  the  stars 

her.  excluding  the  sun,  except  for 


noting  the  boms  of  the  day;  and  this 
m< tde  oi  rei  k< ming  is  i. mnd  among 
some  of  the  more  advanced  of  the 
American  tribes.  The  [roquois  and 
the  <  >jibbeways  had  spe<  1.1I  n. lines  for 
a  number  ol  Stars  ;  and  the  latter  de- 
fined with  precision  the  hours  of  the 
night  by  the  rising  and  settii 
these.  The  Osages,  too,  marked  the 
progress  of  night  by  the  stars,  and 
smized  Venus,  the  three  stars  in 
<  Mion's  belt,  the  Pleiades,  and  even 
the  Polar  Star  and  the  apparent  rev- 
olution of  the  neighboring  stars 
around  it.*  But  it  is  among  the  na- 
tives of  the  Marian  and  the  Caro- 
line Islands  that  we  find  this  mode  ol 
reckoning  time   best   developed.     The 

( Caroline  islanders  not  alone  define  the 

periods  of  the  night  by  the  stars,  but 
even  divide  the  year  into  seasons  ac- 
cording to  the  ascent  of  certain  stars 
at  fixed  times:  and  into  months,  each 
having  a  fixed  number  of  days,  accord- 
ing    to    the    moon's    several    phases. 

[  Not  alone  has  each  clay,  but  also  each 
division  of  the  day,  a  distinct   name.f 

("According  to  Freycinct  (2.  105)  the 
number  of  their  months  was  ten.  and 
of  these,  five  I  from  June  to  November) 
constituted  the  season  of  winds  and 
rains,  and  the  other  five  the  temperate 
season.  But  that  writer  himself  doubts 
whether  they  had  not  two  modes  of 
reckoning  the  year,  the  one  founded 
on  climatic  reasons,  the  other  on  luna- 
tions, and  giving  a  greater  number  of 
months  than  the  former."  Among 
the  natives  of  the  Marian  Islands 
there  were  two  parties,  one  of  them 
counting  twelve,  and  the  other  thirteen 
lunations  to  the  year ;  and  their  dis- 
putes once  even  led  to  a  war.  The 
Caroline  men.  besides  traversing  the 
sea  all  round  their  own  group  of  isl- 
ands for  business  or  pleasure,  \isit 
also,  whether  singly  or  in  squadrons, 
the  Marian  Islands.  In  making  this 
voyage  they  direct  their  course  ac- 
cording to  the  starry  heavens,  which 
the]  divide  into  twelve  regions.  Can- 
tova  makes  mention   of  these  twelve 


•     \\    .Ml/.    II.    224. 

t  Waitz,  III.  224. 
}    Wait/,  III.  224. 


•Nuttall,  Journal    of  Travels  into  '.he  Ar 
kansas  Territory.    Phila.  1S21,  172  seqq. 
1  r<  rland  <//>.  Wait/,  V.  2S6. 


FETICH  ISM. 


91 


regions  and  of  the  twelve  winds  named 
by  the  Caroline  men.  But  they  had 
also  another  division  of  the  heavens 
into  twenty-four  regions,  which  took 
their  names  from  the  stars  which  rose 
and  set  in  them.  They  guide  their 
course  at  sea  by  these  regions,  as  also 
by  the  sun,  stars  and  constellations, 
whose  rising  and  setting  they  can  ob- 
serve, and  to  which  they  give  special 
names."*  Of  the  astronomical  instruc- 
tion in  vogue  amongst  them  we  have 
already  spoken. 

The  reckoning  of  time  by  the  sun 
is  therefore  of  more  recent  origin  than 
the  reckoning  by  the  moon  and  stars. 
Among  the  Mexicans,  who  reckoned 
solar  years,  many  regarded  the  planet 
Venus  to  be  more  ancient  than  the 
sun.f  The  discovery  of  the  solar 
year  presupposes  an  extended  and  la- 
borious observation  of  the  sun,  and  so 
a  high  degree  of  spiritual  interest. 
Hence  we  might  a  priori  assert  (and 
experience  will  confirm  the  assertion) 
that  wherever  the  solar  year  is  accept- 
ed as  a  measure  of  time,  culture  has 
gone  far  beyond  its  barbarous  stages. 
We  may  go  farther  (and  here  too  expe- 
rience will  come  to  our  support)  and 
assert  that  the  worship  of  the  sun  is 
only  possible  where  the  mind  has 
reached  a  degree  of  development  far 
higher  than  that  required  for  the  wor- 
ship of  the  moon  and  stars.  The  na- 
tions which  have  brought  the  worship 
of  the  sun  to  its  highest  perfection  are 
civilized — the  Persians,  for  instance, 
the  Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  Mexi- 
cans and  Peruvians. 

3.   The  Worship  of  the  Moon. 

The  first  and  lowest  stage  of  the 
worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies  is  that 
where  the  Moon  is  worshiped  and 
regarded  as  of  more  importance  than 
the  Sun. 

The  Kamtchatdales  have  not  yet 
reached  this  stage,  worshiping,  ac- 
cording to  Steller,  neither  Sun  nor 
Moon.t  The  Payaguas,  of  S.  Amer- 
ica, on  perceiving  the  New  Moon  beat 

*  Ibid.  85. 

t  Waitz,  IV.  146. 

I  Steller,  Kamtschatka,  S.  2S1. 


the  air  with  their  fists,  to  give  expres- 
sion, as  they  say,  to  their  gladness. 
Azara,  who  relates  this  fact,  further 
says  :  "  Ce  qui  a  donne  lieu  a.  quel- 
ques  persounes  de  croire  qu'ils  l'ado- 
raient  ;  mais  le  fait  positif  est,  qu'ils 
ne  rendent  ni  culte  ni  adoration  a 
rien  au  monde  et  qu'ils  n'ont  aucune 
religion."*  This  joy  of  the  savage  on 
beholding  the  luminous  heavenly 
bodies  leads  him  to  contemplate 
them,  and  he  soon  begins  to  regard 
them  as  the  causes  of  occurrences 
which  in  no  wise  depend  upon  them. 
The  Botokuds  think  the  moon  is  the 
cause  of  most  of  the  phenomena  of 
Nature. f  In  the  Pelew  Islands  pre- 
dictions are  made  from  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Moon.t  Hence  the 
Moon  soon  passes  for  a  mighty  fetich, 
and  so  is  held  in  greater  consideration 
than  the  Sun  ;  and  accordingly  the 
Moon  would  be  naturally  regarded  as 
a  Man,  the  Sun  as  a  Woman.  Bleek 
says,  with  respect  to  the  Hottentots, 
"  In  the  lowest  stage  of  culture  to  be 
met  with  among  nations  having  sex- 
ual language,  the  worship  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  acts  a  very  unimpor- 
tant part,  for  the  reason  that  the 
knowledge  possessed  by  savages  of 
the  motions  of  these  bodies  is  too  slight 
to  give  a  basis  for  reverential  contem- 
plation. And  yet  we  find  even  here 
the  rudiments  of  the  mythologic  (i.e.y 
anthropopathic)  conception.  .  .  .  For 
first  the  phases  of  the  Moon  will  ex- 
cite attention.  Her  gradual  waxing 
and  waning  gives  to  the  savage  the 
notion  of  a  Being  which  grows  for  a 
while,  and  then  decays,  and  he  readily 
personifies  it.  Hence  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  Moon-worship  was  the 
earliest  phase  of  the  worship  of 
heavenly  bodies.  The  Hottentots,  as 
we  are  assured  by  Kolb,  a  competent 
witness,  pay  divine  honor  to  the 
Moon.      In    their    language     ||khap§ 


*  Azara,  II.  137. 

f  Pi.  M.  v.  Neuwied,  R.  n.  Brasil,  II.  5S  f. 

\  Hockin,  Supplem.  to  the  Account  of  the 
Pelew  Islands.     Lond.  1803,  p.  15. 

§  ||  expresses  the  lateral  clicking  sound; 
Kh  is  a  guttural  consonant,  and  -  marks  the 
nasal  tone. 


II  riCHISM. 


n)   is,  as   in   ancient  Teutonic  edasaman.     Our  Teutonic  ancestors 

masculine,   and   the    Sun    feminine."  had  the  same  opinion :"  Audio 

The    Namaquas,  an   offshoot   <>f  the  eres  Germanos  Lunum  quoque  deum 

rd  i he-  Sun  as  a  lump  coluisse  et  appellasse  Hermon,  i<l  est, 

.•.huh   seafarers  at-  dominum     Lunum     (Herr     Mond)." 

■   t<>  themselves  In-  enchantment  (Gesner,    Afithridates,    Tur.    1555,0. 

during    the    night,    and     then     spurn  28.)  Hulderic.    Eyben    (De    titulo    no- 

morning   lias   come,   and   they  bilis.  Fiemst.    1677,  4,  p.    1361  says: 

have   no    further    need   of   it.     The  " Qua  etiam  ratione  in  vetere  idolola- 

n,  on  the  other  hand,  they  regard  trico  luna  non  domina,  dominus  appel- 

as  a  more  important   personage   than  latur: 

even  their  own    chief    Spirit    u-Tixo. 

He  (the   Moon)  once   commissioned  Sj?!S!!S!SS^i"!Il^!^         r  herr' 
the  Hare  to  inform  mankind  that  even 


as  the  Moon   always  recovers  again 

his  fullness  after  he  has  lost  it,  so  they 
may   come    to   life   again,    after 

death.  The  hare  mistook  the  mes- 
and  told  men  that  they  must  die 
away,  even  as  the  moon  does.  This 
was  the  origin  of  death.  Old  Nama- 
quas  never  eat  hare-flesh,  probably 
because  this  animal  is  regarded  as  a 


M.uh  mii  meines  (<cM<js  mehr. 


And  Eligius :  nullus  dominos  solem 
aut  lunam  vocet  The  Sun.  too,  they 
regarded  as  a  woman  :  Vetulam  novi, 
quae  credidit  solem  esse  deam,  vocans 
earn  sanctam  dominam.  (Nicolaus  de 
Gawe  qp.  Grimm.)*  The  Greeks 
had  for  the  Moon  the  two  appella- 
tions /"/»',  masculine,  and  oetyvQ,  femi- 
nine, and  /"/'  is  the  more  ancient  name. 


divine  messenger.     The  waning  of  the   The    Romans   likewise    had   the  two 


moon  is  due  to  his  putting  his  hand 
up  to  his  head  when  he  has  .1 
headache.*     The    Mbocovies,    neigh- 


words  Lunus  and  Luna.t  The  citi- 
zens of  Carrae  believed  that  whoever 
regarded   the    Moon  as  a   male  deity. 


bors  of  the   Payaguas,  take   some  of  would  be  lord  over  women:  whoever 

the     stars   for   trees    with    luminous  held  him  to  be  female,  would  be  their 

branches,  and   others   for   an    ostrich  slaVe.t     With    regard   to   the    utterly 

pursued  by  dogs.     (Cf.  supra,  Ch.  III.  barbarous  aborigines  of  Xew  Califor- 

The  Sun.  they  say,  is  a  woman  nja  Bagert§  states   that   not  alone  are 

who    once    fell  upon  the   Earth,  and  t|K.v  without   social  organization,  but 

caused  thereby  great  calamity:  it  was  tlia't  not  even  {\w  trace  of  any  religion 

only  with  great  difficulty  that  she  was  js  to  ^  fOUnd  among  them.  '  Picolo's 

restored  to  her  place.     But  the  Moon  acCount  contradicts  this,  for  he  says 

is  a  man  :  and  his  eclipse  is  caused  by  t]iat  they  worship    the    Moon.||      The 

a  dog  tearing  out   his  bowels.t     The  Panches  are  bv  Gomara  H  said  to  wor- 

that  the  Moon  is  a  man  '. 

riding  on  an  ass  :   but  that  the    Sun  is  Indian  mythology  the  Moon  is  a  god,  not  a 

up  in  the   heavens   every  morning  S°Ildc"\  „ 

1  11  *      -i-i       ,i      ._i__j         *  H.  M-  400  ff. 


by  an  old  woman. t     The    Greenland 
iv  that  Anningat,  the  Moon,  is  a 


t  Macrob.  III.  c.  S.     Cf  Meiners,  I.  589. 
}  Spartian.  in  Vit  Anton.  Carac  c.  7.    El 


man  who  is  in  pursuit  of  Mallina.  the    quoruam  Dei  Luni  fecimus  mentionem,  saen- 
Sun,  his    sister,  With    whom    he    is    in    dW,  doedssimis  quibusque  id  memori*  tra- 
,,       ,       T  ■  ,  .      ,      I,    drtum  atque  ita  nunc  quoque  a  Carrems  prse- 

(ove.§      By   the    Lithuanians.    Arabs  I]    cipue  haberi,  ut  qui  lunam  foemineo   nomine 
and  Hindus"  the  Moon  is  also  regard-  ac  sexu  putaverit  nuncupandam,  is  addictus 

mulieribus  semper  inserviat  :  at  vero  qui  ma- 

rem  deum  esse  crediderit,  is  dominctur 
uxori,  neque  ullas  muliebres  patiatur  insidias. 
Unde  quamvis  Graeci  vel  Aegyptii  eo  genere 
quo  tomineam  hominem,  etiam  Lunam  deam 


v,  II.  J42. 

.    Hist.     Para  uay,    Rio    de    la 
Plata  v  Tucuman,  1. 15.     Cf  Wait/,  III.  472. 
\  Davis,  El  <-:  New    Mexico   and    dicunt,  mystice  tamen  deum  dicunt. 

ople.     N.  Y.  [857,  p.  414.  S  Bagert,  Nachricht  v.  Californ.  S.  16E 

mm,  i  >.  M.  400. 
I  Ibid. 
\  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.  p.  76,     "In 


A.p.  Waitz,  [V.  250. 
■  Hist,  gea    de   las    [ndias,  in    Historiad. 
prim,  de  Ind.  Madr.  1.852,  |).  202. 


FETICH  ISM. 


93 


ship  Sun  and  Moon,  while  Piedrahita  * 
expressly  affirms  that  they  worship 
the  Moon  only.  But  these  conflict- 
ing statements  may  perhaps  be  recon 
ciled  if  we  recollect  that  Piedrahita's 
account  is  of  earlier  date  than  Go- 
mara's  :  thus  Gomara's  narrative 
would  exhibit  the  progress  to  the  wor- 
ship of  both  Sun  and  Moon  from  sim- 
ple Moon-worship.  The  difference 
between  Bagert  and  Picolo  admits  of 
a  similar  explanation.  With  regard 
to  the  Kaffirs,  too,  we  have  accounts 
on  the  one  hand  asserting  that  they 
do  not  regard  Sun  or  Moon  as  objects 
of  worship,  though  they  hold  them  to 
be  animate  beings ;  and  on  the  other 
hand  accounts  affirming  explicitly  that 
they  hold  festival  and  conduct  relig- 
ious dances  at  the  time  of  the  New 
Moon.f  The  Maravi  celebrate  the 
return  of  the  New  Moon.J  Traces 
of  the  old  German  moon-worship,  in 
addition  to  those  already  mentioned, 
are  found  in  the  following  passage 
from  Nicolaus  de  Gawe's  work  de 
Superstitionibus :  "  Insuper  hodie  in- 
veniuntur  homines  tarn  layci  quam 
clerici,  literati  quam  illiterati,  et  quod 
plus  dolendum  est,  valde  magni,  qui 
cum  nouilunium  primo  viderint  flexis 
genibus  adorant:  vel  deposito  capucio 
vel pileo  inclinato  capite  honorant  allo- 
quendo  et  suscipiendo.  Ymmo  eciam 
plures  ieiunant  ipso  die  novilunii,  sive 
sit  dies  dominica  in  qua  secundum 
ordinacionem  ecclesias  non  est  ieiun- 
andum  propter  resurrectionis  leticiam 
siue  quacunque  alia  die,  eciamsi  esset 
dies  dominice  nativitatis.  Quae  omnia 
habent  speciem  ydolatrie,  ab  ydolatris 
relicte."  § 

The  Moon  being  an  animated  thing 
and  regarded  with  such  veneration,  it 
cannot  surprise  us  to  find  the  liveliest 
sympathy  excited  in  her  favor,  espe- 
cially whenever  she  appeared  in  dan- 
ger of   perishing,   **.  e.,    when  she    is 


*  Hist,  de  las  conq.  del  nuevo  reyno  de 
Granada,  I.  parte.     Amberes,  1688,  V.  1. 

t  Waitz,  II.  411  f. 

\  Monteiro  in  the  Ztschr.  f.  Allg.  Erdkunde, 
VI.  260  ff.  Ausland,  1858,  p.  260;  Waitz,  II. 
419. 

§  Grimm,  D.  M.  Anhang.  S.  XLIV. 


eclipsed.  We  have  already  seen  that 
several  tribes  of  savages  account  for 
this  phenomenon  by  attributing  it  to 
the  attack  cf  a  wolf  on  the  Moon. 
Hence  they  hasten  to  render  her  as- 
sistance by  making  a  fearful  noise,. 
with  a  view  to  frighten  the  monster 
away.*  "  Nullus,  si  quando  luna 
obscuratur,  vociferare  prassumat,"  says 
Eligius  in  a  sermon.  "  Vince  Luna." 
was  the  cry  of  the  Romans,  prompted 
by  a  similar  belief  :  and  we  meet  with 
the  same  usage  in  other  nations,  for 
instance,  among  the  Christians  of 
Abyssinia. f  The  Mbocovies,  as  we 
have  seen,  supposed  that  a  dog  was 
tearing  out  the  entrails  of  the  Man- 
Moon.  Similar  beliefs  are  enter- 
tained by  American  Indians,  and  this 
circumstance  will  explain  their  cus- 
tom of  beating  their  dogs,  during  an 
eclipse  of  the  Moon,  as  the  Hurons 
did,  according  to  Charlevoix,  and  also 
the  Peruvians.  The  Potowatomies, 
who  are  Sun-worshipers  and  who  re- 
gard the  moon  as  a  maleficent  deity, 
as  compared  with  the  Sun,  suppose 
that  in  the  Moon  there  dwells  an  old 
woman  who  weaves  a  basket,  on  the 
completion  of  which  the  world  will 
come  to  an  end  :  but  the  basket  is  al- 
ways torn  in  pieces  by  a  dog,  before 
it  is  finished.  Whenever  the  woman 
struggles  with  the  dog  there  is  a  lunar 
eclipse. %  Many  of  the  South  Sea  Isl- 
anders explain  this  phenomenon  dif- 
ferently^ accounting  for  it  in  accord- 
ance with  the  dogmas  of  Soul-wor- 
ship, which  appears  to  overmaster 
their  fetichism,  and  to  force  it  into 
the  background.  According  to  them 
the  Moon  is  the  food  of  departed 
spirits,  and  by  feasting  off  it,  they 
make  it  smaller;  just  as  the  Dakota  In- 
dians say  that  the  waning  of  the  Moon 
is  caused  by  the  gnawing  of  a  num- 
ber of  little  mice  (Mice-souls  ?).  But 
it  ever  waxes  again.  When  therefore 
the  Moon  is  eclipsed,  these  islanders. 


*  Cf.  Grimm,  D.  M.  401. 

1  Waitz,  II.  503. 

J  De  Smet,  Missions  de  l'Oregon  et  Voy- 
ages aux.  Montagnes  rocheuses  (1845). 
Gand.  1848,  p.  298. 

§  Turner,  p.  529  seqq. 


") 


ii  ri(  iii^m. 


are  alarmed,  lest  the  souls  should  go 

without   sustenance.     To  preveni  so 

a  i  alamity  they   make  a  greal 

oa-nuts.    On  the  island 

,i  I  ap*  it  is  a  wizard  thai  i  auses  the 
to  wane,  by  his  enchantments. 
We  need  not  be   surprised  if   we 
find  a  well-deve\pped  worship  of  spirits 
among  people  who  pay  no  worship  to 
the  stars.     The  conception  and  wor- 
ship of    ghosts    and  spirits    belong  to 
the  lowest  grades   of  human  develop- 
ment,  and  arc   parallel    with   those 
phases  of  fetichism    which  have  all 
their  objects    upon     the   earth   itself. 
More   recent  than  either    of   these   is 
Star-worship;    and     to    the    highest 
grade  <>l    this,  which   is    the  climax  ol 
fetichism,  answers  polytheism,  the  cli- 
max of  spirit-worship.      Where  the  two 
intersect,  monotheism  results.      But  of 
course  we  can  only  state  these  points 
here  as  theses  susceptible  of  proof. 

4.  The   J  I',' fillip  of  the  Stars. 

The    Hottentots,    who    are    Moon- 
worshipers,  and    who  take  the  Sun    to 
be  a  lump  of  fat,  have  names  for  sev- 
eral stars,  yet  do  not   worship  them.f 
The    ancient     religion    of  the   Moxos 
differed  for  each  village.     They  wor- 
shiped severally   the  Sun,  the  Moon 
and    the  Stars,  as  well  as  spirits    and 
lies  of  every  description.     Their 
principal  objects  t>f  worship  were  the 
evil  spirit  Choquigua  and  the  jaguar  : 
yet  they  kept  a  festival  at  the  time 
of  the  New   Moon,  and  Carasco  is  in- 
clined   to    consider    Star-worship    as 
their   primitive  religion.}     The   Abi- 
pones  of    S.  America    worshiped    a- 
fetii  hes  the  Pleiades,  which  for  them 
never  set.     They  regarded    this  con- 
stellation as  the  founder  of  their  race, 
and  gave  to  it  the  same   name  which 
gave  to  their  1  onjuring  doctors, 
K'  •  bet.§     The  Pawnee  Indians  used 
to  offer  human  sat  rifii  e    annually  to 
the  "great  star"   which  they  worship- 
ed, viz.,  Venus;  and  the  same  planet 


had  a  <  hapel  dedicated  in  its  honor 
among  the  M<  ril  an-,  who  held  it  to 
he  more  ancient  than  the  Sun.  The 
last  sacrifice  offered  to  the  "Great 
St. u ■"  l)\-  the  Pawnees  was  offered  in 

Then  a  Sioux  girl  was 

the  victim,  and  she.  after  having  been 

carefully  tended  and  well  fed,  with- 
out any  intimation  of  her  fate  being 
given  her.  was  hound  fast  upon  a  fu- 
neral pile  and  shot  to  death  with  ar- 
rows. Whilst  yet  she  lived,  they 
carved  pieces  of  flesh  off  her  body, 
and  suffered  her  blood  to  flow  over 
the  young  shoots  of  corn.* 

5.    The  Transition  to  Sun- Worship. 

Wherever  the  Moon  and  the  Stars 
are  objects  of  worship,  the  Sun's 
claims  to  adoration  will  soon  be  rec- 
ognized, and  then  the  Sun  and  the 
Moon  will  at  first  receive  equal  ven- 
eration, to  the  prejudice  of  the  stars, 
which  will  hold  but  a  subordinate 
position,  but  when  once  attention 
has  been  directed  to  the  Sun,  it  will 
quickly  be  seen  that,  as  compared 
with  the  Moon,  he  is  the  superior 
Being,  and  then  their  mutual  rela- 
tions will  be  reversed,  the  Sun  coming 
prominently  into  the.  foreground. 
Hence  in  the  worship  of  Sun  and 
Moon,  we  recognize  two  stages :  in 
the  one  these  two  luminaries  jointly 
receive  equal  worship;  in  the  other 
they  are  both  worshiped  indeed,  but 
still  the  Sun  far  outranks  the  Moon, 
and  the  religious  halo  surrounding 
the  latter  is  as  pale  as  her  beams. 
For  all  these  stages  we  can  find  rep- 
resentatives, and  of  the  latter  it  is 
to  be  observed  that  their  intellectual 
advancement  will  correspond  with 
the  progress  they  have  made  in  the 
worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

The  Comanche  Indians  t  worship 
the  Sun  and  Moon  ex  aquo.  They 
call  the  Sun  the  Cod  oi  Day,  the 
Moon  the  Cod  of  Night,  and  the 
Earth,    the    Common    Mother  of  all. 


ind  apud  Waitz,  V.  j,  147. 
t  Campbell,  First  voyage. 

}   Wait/,  lit 

^  Dobrizhofer,  II,  80,87  seqq.  317. 


*  De    Smet ;  J.    Irving,    Indian    sketches. 
Lond.  1835;  Schoolcraft,  IV.  50,  V.  77. 

t  Wait/,  IV.  J 1 3,  ff. 


FETICHISM. 


95 


In  their  view  the  Sun  and  the  Moon 
are  both  men  :  they  stand  on  terms 
of  equality,  not  of  subordination, 
which  latter  would  not  be  the  case 
-were  they  regarded  as  Man  and 
Woman.  The  savage  considers  wo- 
man to  be  immeasurably  the  inferior 
of  man,  and  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
the  worship  of  Sun  and  Moon  the 
latter  would  be  male,  the  former 
female.  In  that  stage  which  the 
Comanches  have  reached  they  are 
both  male  :  and  it  is  only  later  that 
the  Sun  is  held  to  be  a  man,  the 
Moon  a  woman.  As  for  the  intel- 
lectual culture  of  these  savages,  it 
may  be  estimated  from  the  following 
circumstances.  On  journeys  they  di- 
rect their  course  by  the  Polar  Star. 
They  do  not  follow  agriculture,  living 
solely  by  the  chase.  Their  clothing 
is  of  tanned  deer-skin.  Their  weap- 
ons are  bows  and  arrows,  the  lasso 
and  the  shield ;  and  now  muskets. 
Each  individual  is  allowed  unre- 
stricted freedom  of  action,  but  vet 
offenses  are  punished  by  decree  of 
.3.  council  summoned  annually  by  the 
chief.  Debauchery  is  common,  and 
polygamy  prevails  amongst  them. 
They  have  no  word  meaning  virgin, 
and  it  is  simple  politeness  to  offer 
to  the  stranger  a  female  companion. 

On  the  stage  next  above  this,  both 
Sun  and  Moon  are  also  worshiped, 
b>ut  the  Sun  has  precedence  of  the 
Moon,  the  latter  being  female,  the 
former  male.  The  Muzos  say  the 
Sun  is  their  Father,  the  Moon  their 
Mother.  The  natives  of  Cumana, 
one  of  the  Caribees,  used  to  worship 
Sun  and  Moon  as  man  and  wife.* 
The  Sun  goes  on  increasing  in  im- 
portance :  thus  the  Potowatomies  t 
hold  the  Moon  to  be  an  evil  female 
•deity  (supra,  p.  93)  ;  the  Sun-worship- 
ing Winnebagoes  %  do  not  believe 
that  the  Moon  has  any  power  over 
mankind ,  while  the  Osages  regard 
the    Sun  as    the  Great  Spirit,   ruling 


*  Gomara,  208  ;  Herrera,  Descripcion  de 
las  Indias  occidentals.  Madrid,  1730,  III. 
.4.  10  seq. 

tKeating,  I.  216. 

X  Schoolcraft,  IV.  240. 


over  Moon  and  Earth.*  Here  we 
reach  that  stage  in  the  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  where  the  Sun 
assumes  the  unchallenged  pre-emi- 
nence. 

6.   The  Worship  of  the  Sun. 

Almost  all  the  tribes  of  American 
Indians  worship  the  Sun  as  the  Su- 
preme Deity.  In  North  America, 
according  to  Waitz  (III.  180)  this  is 
true  as  regards  all  the  tribes  as  far 
west  as  the  Crows  and  the  Blackfeet, 
and  as  far  north  as  the  Ottawas.  In 
Florida  the  worship  of  the  Sun 
reigned,  and  it  extended  thence  to 
the  Apache  country.  Sun-worship, 
however,  reached  its  highest  stage  of 
development  in  Middle  and  South 
America,  among  the  Mexicans  and 
the  Peruvians. 

The  Indians  of  Florida  prayed  to 
the  Sun,  whom  they  held  to  be  a  man, 
for  victory  in  battle,  and  sang  hymns 
of  praise  in  his  honor.f  The  chief 
offering  made  to  the  Sun  by  the  Indi- 
ans is  tobacco-smoke  from  the  pipe, 
and  thus  smoking  is  among  them  a 
religious  rite.  The  Hurons,  Man- 
dans,  Menitarees  and  other  tribes 
held  the  tobacco-pipe,  whose  high 
importance  as  the  pipe  of  peace  is  well 
known,  to  be  the  gift  of  the  Sun  :  and 
they,  as  well  as  many  tribes  lying  fur- 
ther south,  offer  this  incense  to  the 
Sun,  to  the  four  cardinal  points  of 
the  heavens,  and  to  Mother  Earth. $ 
The  chiefs  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Indi- 
ans used  to  direct  three  puffs  of  smoke 
toward  the  rising  Sun,  and  greet 
him  with  a  reverential  salutation. § 
In  the  Council,  the  pipe  is  always 
passed  around,  following  thus  the 
Sun's  course,  as  they  say. ||  In  Vir- 
ginia, the  aborigines  used  to  crouch  at 
sunrise  and    sunset,  and  direct   their 


*  Morse,  Rep.  to  Sec.  of  War,  on  Ind. 
Affairs.     New  Haven;  1S22,  Appendix,  229. 

t  Landonniere,  Histoire  notable  de  la 
Floride  (1562-67).  Par.  1853,8,  99  ;  Herrera, 
VII.  1,  15,  2,  6;  Buschmann  ap.  Abhandl.  d. 
Akad.  d.  Wiss.  zu  Berl.   1S54,  S.  300. 

J  Lafitau,  II.  134  seqq. ;  Lettr.  edif.  I. 
763;  Nuttall,  274;  Keating,  I.  408  et alibi. 

§  De  la  Potherie,  I.  121,  131,  II.  106. 

II  Perrin  du  Lac,  I.  179. 


I  I    I  M    HI>M. 


.mil  their  hands  toward  that 
luminal  '  I  he  <  Usages  t  each  morn 
ing  pronounce  .1  prayei  to  the  Sun.  and 
in  the  chants  ol  the  Algonquin  pro- 
phets i  the  Sun  is  honored  as  supreme 
I nitv.  The  Potowatomies  §  used 
iionally  to  get  upon  the  roofs  ol 
their  lints  at  the  rising  ol  the  Sun  and 
en  bended  knees  make  an  offering  to 
him  gruel.     The   Spokans 

call   themselvi  of   the  Sun." 

We  1  an  estimate  the  inirllcctu.il  status 
of  these   Indians  from  the  grade  ol 
religious    development     which    they 
have    reached  ;  and   the   notable   re- 
hes   made   by  Waitz   show   that 
the  former  is  on  the  whole  consider- 
ably higher  than  has  been  commonly 
supposed.     'The  nearer  we  approach 
•     Mexico,  the  higher  is  the  develop- 
ment Of  Sun-worship,  and   the   higher 
the  intellectual  status  of  the  al><  irigines. 
the   natives  of   the   lower   Colo- 
rado country, I  who  were  Sun-worship- 
did    not    practice  polygamy,  jeal- 
ously   watched    over    the    chastity   of 
the  young  women  previous  to  marriage, 
and    were    of   mild    manners,   though 
warlike.     The    Pueblos,1    dwelling  in 
the  N.  E.  part  of  New  Mexico,  whose 
chief  god    is  the   Sun,  are   very  indus- 
trious   farmers   with    well-constructed 
implements    of     husbandry:       weave- 
woolen  and  cotton  fabrics  ;    arc  well 
'.  d.  and  build  houses  of  stone  and 
adobes,  three  or  four  stories  in  height. 
As   well   in   geographical   position    as 
in  culture  and  worship  the  Mexicans 
had    for    neighbors    the     Natchez     of 
I.    tisiana,  together  with  the  kindred 
people  of  Texas,  whose  principal  tribe 
was    that    of    the   Assinais.**     Waitz 


♦Strachcv.  Hist,   of   Trav.   into    Virginia 
Britannia.  '  Lond.  1S49,  P-  93- 
t  Nuttall, 

I  Schoolcraft,  I.  399. 

S  Journal   Stranger,  1762.   Mai   p.    7.  <7A 
Waitz,  III.  [82. 

I  astafieda,  Relation  du  Voy.  de  Cibola 
(1540),  ed.  Ternaux  Par.  [838,  p.  299  seqq.; 
Hen-era,  VI.  9, 14. 

ivera,  Diario  y  Derrotero  de  la  Visita 
:.il  de  los  Presidios  de  N.  Espafia.  Gua- 
temala, 1736;  Villa-Sefior,  Teatro  Americano, 
gen.de   los    Reynosy  Provinc  de   la 
\    I  ^pniia.    Mex.  1746.    ('/'.  Waitz,  IV.  227. 
**  Waitz,  III.  219  ff. 


says  that  among  these  is  to  be  found 
"the  trues)  and  most  definite  expres 
sion  ol  Sun-worship,  in  conjun< 
with  a  theocratic  form  ol  government." 
The  Nati  he/  lived  under  an  absolute 
monarchy,  and  the  royal  family,  de- 
scendants ol  the  Sun,  si 1  high  above 

mnion  people,  like  the  family  of 
the  I  in  as  ol  Peru. 

American  Sun-worship  found  its 
highest  development  among  the  Mex- 
icans and  Peruvians.  These  rai  i 
the  period  of  their  coming  in  contact 
with  Europeans  were  no  longer  sav- 
but  civilized  nations  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  and  capable 
of  still  further  native  development. 
This  civilization  would  have  produced 
the  fairest  fruit  had  it  not  been  ruth- 
lessly interrupted  by  the  fanatic  zeal 
of  a  Cortez  and  a  Pizarro,  and  later 
purposely,  persistently  and  violently 
stamped  out  by  the  barbarities  of 
Christian  tyrants. 

Although  polytheism  was  fully  de- 
veloped among  the  M<  '  still 
!  the  Sun  was  their  Supreme  Deity, 
especially  among  the  Toltecs,  who 
were  the  authors  of  all  Mexican  cult- 
ure. It  has  occasioned  surprise  to 
many  to  find  polytheism  and  Sun- 
worship  co-existent,  as  in  the  religion 
of  Mexico  One  explanation  ac- 
counts-for  this  by  supposing  that  this 
religion  had  its  origin  among  several 
diverse  nations  who  coalesced  into 
one,  each  importing  its  own  religious 
ideas.  But  this  supposition  cannot 
be  established  on  historical  grounds, 
nor  is  it  at  all  necessary.  We  have 
already  more  than  once  remarked 
that  the  worship  of  spirits  and  the 
worship  of  material  objects  are  de- 
veloped simultaneously  and  side-by- 
side.  The  one  never  arises  alone, 
and  unaccompanied  by  the  other. 
The  development  of  spirit-worship 
advances  pari passu  with  that  of  mat- 
ter-worship.    Wherever  the  latter  as- 


*  Cf.  Prescott,  Conq.  Mex.  I. ;  Waitz,  IV. 
S.  i-'iSo;  Wuttke,  C.esch.  d.  Heidenth.  S. 
251-299;  I>.  Fr.  Saverio  Clavigero,  Hist 
Antig.  de  Megico,  sacada  de  los  mejores  his- 
toriadores  espaRolesy  de  los  manuscritos  y 
I  de  las  pinturas  indias,  etc     Londres,  1826. 


FETICHISM. 


97 


sumes  the  form  of  Sun-worship,  the  [ 
former  becomes  a  complex  polythe- 
ism ;  hence  we  find  in  the  religion  of 
Mexico  not  two  incongruous  elements, 
but  rather  the  regular  combination  of 
two  lines  of  objects  of  worship  which 
constitute  the  inception  of  religious 
development  in  the  mind  of  man. 
We  have  no  need,  therefore,  of  sup- 
posing that  the  Mexican  religion 
came  from  different  peoples  :  its  two  : 
phases  are  rather  the  genuine  prod- 
ucts of  the  Mexican  understanding  it- 
self. 

The  Sun's  preeminence  over  the 
other  gods  is  shown  in  the  Mexican 
myth  which  traced  the  origin  of  the 
Sun,  as  also  in  the  fact  that  the  Mex- 
icans called  themselves  "  the  Sun's 
children."  This  myth  is  given  in  full 
by  Clavigero,*  but  we  need  here  re- 
fer only  to  that  portion  which  speaks 
of  the  heroes  or  demigods  (heroes  o 
semidioses),  who,  prior  to  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Sun,  ruled  over  men,  and 
opposed  that  god  when  he  began  to 
run  his  course ;  but  seeing  that  they 
could  not  make  head  against  him, 
such  of  them  as  had  not  already  been 
slain  by  the  Sun  made  away  with 
themselves,  leaving  him  sole  master. 
Quetzalcoatl,  a  sort  of  Mexican 
Christ,t  is  said  to  have  been  created 
by  the  breath  of  Tonacateotl,  the 
Sun 4  Whereas  offerings  were  made 
to  the  other  gods  only  four  times 
a  day,  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  in  the 
evening  and  at  midnight,  there  were 
nine  daily  offerings  to  the  sun,  four 
by  day  and  five  through  the  night,  of 
copal  or  other  fragrant  gum,  such  as 
chapopotli  §  (called  by  Clavigero  be- 
tun  judaico,  asphaltum).  They  of- 
fered also  quails  to  the  Sun  at  his 
rising,  and  solemnly  greeted  his  ap- 
pearance with  music. ||  That  their 
conception  of  the  Sun  was  anthro- 
popathic  though  a  most  exalted  one 


we  see  from  all  their  myths.  At  the 
solemn  naming  of  the  new-born  in- 
fant, when  ceremonies  were  used  hav- 
ing a  strange  resemblance  to  those 
accompanying  the  baptismal  rite  in 
Christian  churches — as,  for  instance, 
their  sprinkling  the  babe  with  water 
and  then  entreating  the  deity  "  that 
he  would  cause  these  holy  drops  of 
water  to  wash  away  the  sin  which  be- 
came the  infant's  heritage  before  the 
creation  of  the  world,  to  the  end  that 
the  babe  might  be  born  anew  "* — the 
mother  thus  addressed  the  Sun  and 
the  Earth  :  "Thou  Sun,  Father  of  all 
that  live,  and  thou  Earth,  our  Mother, 
take  ye  this  child  and  guard  it  as 
your  son."  t  They  often  employed 
this  solemn  form  of  asseveration, 
"  By  the  life  of  the  Sun  and  of  our 
Lady,  the  Earth." 

The  Mexicans,  who  thus  paid  su- 
preme honor  to  the  Sun,  and  made 
him  the  object  of  constant  observation, 
gained  an  astonishing  degree  of  ac- 
curacy in  their  knowledge  of  his- 
course.  All  who  have  studied  the 
matter  are  agreed  t  that  the  Mexi- 
cans, who  used  sun-dials,  calculated 
the  length  of  the  solar  year  with  the 
utmost  possible  exactitude.  First, 
their  year  consisted  of  18  months 
having  20  days  each — 360  days.  To 
the  last  month  they  added  5  days, 
which  they  called  nemontemi,  unem- 
ployed, as  they  did  nothing  on  those 
days  but  pay  visits. §  "  But  what  is 
most  wonderful  in  their  reckonings, 
and  what  will  appear  scarce  credible 
to  those  who  are  unacquainted  with 
Mexican  antiquities,  is  this,"  says 
Clavigero, ||  "that  the  difference  of 
some  hours  between  the  civil  and  the 
solar  years  was  noted  by  them,  and 
that  they  resorted  to  intercalation  to 
equalize  them.     There  was,  however, 


*  Lib.  VI.  p.  228,  Apoteosis  del  Sol  y  de 
la  Luna. 

t  Cf.  Waitz,  IV.  141  f. 

t  Kingsborough,  Antiq.  of  Mex.  Lond., 
1831,  V.  135,  1S4. 

§  Clavigero,  VI.  251  :  Al  sol  incensaban 
nueve  veces,  cuatro  de  dia  y  cinco  de  noctoe. 

II  lb.,  p.  260. 


*  Vide  Prescott,  I. 

t  Clavigero,  p.  290:  Tu,  sol,  decia  la  par- 
tera,  padre  de  todos  los  vivientes,  y  tu,  tierra, 
nuestra  madre,  acoged  a  este  nino  y  prote- 
gedlo  como  a  hijo  vuestro. 

\  Cf  Prescott,  I. ;     Waitz,  IV.  174. 

§  Gama,  Descripcion  Historica  y  Crono- 
logica  de  los  Dos  Piedras.  Mejico,  1832,  II  . 
in  seqq. 

||  Libro,  VI.  p.  269. 


<..s 


11/11'  HISM. 


en  theit  mode  of  intercalation 
and  that  of  Julius  Csesai  which  is 
adopted  for  the  Roman  Calendar,  this 
difference,  that  instead  ol  intercalating 
one  day  every  fourth  year,  they  added 
ry  fifty-second  year. 
'•  The)  waited,"  says  Presi  ott,  "  till 
the  expiration  of  5a  years,  when  they 
interposed  13  days,  or  rather  12  days 
and  a  half,  this  being  the  number  that 
hail  fallen  in  arreai.  Had  they  in- 
serted 13,  it  would  have  been  too 
much,  since  the  annual  excess  over 
365  is  about  11  minutes  less  than  6 
hours,  but  as  their  calendar,  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest,  was  found  to 
correspond  with  the  European  (mak- 
ing allowance  for  the  subsequent 
Gregorian  reform),  they  would  seem 
to  have  adopted  the  shorter  period  of 
12  days  and  a  half,  which  brought 
them  within  an  almost  inappreciable 
fraction,  to  the  exact  length  of  the 
solar  year,  as  established  by  the 
most  accurate  observations.  {Cf.  La 
Place;  Exposition,  p.  350.)  Indeed, 
the  intercalation  of  25  days  in  every 
104  years,  shows  a  nicer  adjustment 
of  civil  to  solar  time  than  is  presented 
by  any  European  calendar;  since 
more  than  5  centuries  must  elapse, 
before  the  loss  of  an  entire  day.* 
Such  was  the  astonishing  precision 
displayed  by  the  Aztecs,  or,  perhaps, 
by  their  more  polished  Toltec  prede- 
cessors, in  these  computations,  so  diffi- 
cult as  to  have  baffled,  till  a  compara- 
tivelv  recent  period,  the  most  enlight- 
ened' nations  of  Christendom  !  " 

In  addition  to  their  solar  year  they 
had  also  a  sacerdotal,  or,  so  to  speak, 
an  ecclesiastical  year  of  20  times  [3 
days,  and  this  year  was  called  the 
Metzlapohualli  (Lunar  Reckoning). 
as  distinguished  from  the  civil  year 
Tonalpohualli  (Solar  Reckoning).! 
This  religious  computation  of  time, 
which  served  to  regulate  the  festivals, 


as  also  the  circumstance  that  one 
word,  Metzli,  served  to  express  both 
month  and  moon,  are  evidences  oi  an 
earlier  computation  by  Moons,  which 
in  fact  Echevarria  asserts  to  have  be.  n 
their    more  ancient    mode   of    reckon- 

But  even  as    the    Moon  lost    impor- 
tance for  computing    time,  so   too   did 

her  worship  decline.     Sh<  1  ame  to  be 

regarded  as  the  wife  of  the  Sun,  .is 
5  ars  were  his  sisters.!  As  tor 
her  eJipses.  the  true  cau.se  of  which 
they  very  probably  recognized,}  they 
were  not  regarded  with  the  same 
emotions  as  by  savages. §  Amid  the 
countless  temples  and  <  hapels  of  Mex- 
ico two  were  specially  famous,  the 
great  temple  of  the  Sun,  and  the 
smaller  temple  of  the  Moon  at  Teoti- 
huacan,  and  around  each  of  these  stood 
a  cluster  of  minor  temples,  probably 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  Stais.  || 
The  planet  Venus  had  a  temple  called 
Ilhuicatitlan.c  The  Stars  were  ob- 
jects especially  of  astrological  obser- 
vation, and  were  consulted  with  re- 
gard to  the  most  trifling  domestic 
affairs  as  well  as  the  weightiest  con- 
cerns of  the  State;**  even  the  kings 
were  attentive  observers  of  the  stars, 
and  one  of  them.  Nezahualcoiotl,  built 
for  his  own  use  an  observatory. 

The  Mexican  State  was  a  carefully 
articulated  organism,  down  even  to  its 
minutest  subdivisions.  The  affairs  of 
the  army,  the  revenues,  the  courts  of 
justice,  the  police,  etc.,  were  thoroughly 
organized.  The  king,  vicegerent  of 
God  on  earth,  was  possessed  of  powers 
limited  only  by  divine  authority  and 
the  prescription  of  religion.  The 
prayers  addressed  by  him  to  the  deity. 
to  obtain  strength  and  light  for  the 
discharge  of  his  important  duties, 
sound    like  some   of   David's   Psalms. 


*  Gama,  parte  i,  p.  23.  El  corto  exceso 
de  4  hor.  3S  min.  40  scr.,  que  hay  de  mas  de 
los  25  dias  en  el  penodo  de  104  afn>s,  qo 
puedc  componer  un  dia  entero,  hasta  que 
pasenmas  de  cinco  de  estos  periodos  niaxi- 
mos  6  53S  afios. 

I  Cf.  Waits,  IV.  174. 


*  IJC  Echevarria  y  Veitia,  Hist,  del  <  irigen 
de  las  ('.elites  que  poblaron  la  X.  Espana 
(Ap.  Kingsborough,  VIII.)  I.  4. 

t  Cf.  Wail/,  tV.  1  54. 

t  Humboldt,  Vues   des   Cordilleres,    2S2 ; 

itt,  [. 
S  Kingsborough,  V.  156. 
Clavigero,  I.  247  seq. 

•  <  llavigero,  p.  244. 

**  //'it/.  I.  209  seqq.  271,  291,  etc. 


FETICH  ISM. 


99 


No  Jewish    prophet  could    use  more 
impressive    language    than     this,    ad- 
dressed to  a  Mexican  King:  *     "Gra- 
ciously   and    meekly    receive  all  who 
come  to  you  in  anguish  and  distress ; 
neither  speak  nor  act  from    passion. 
Calmly    and    patiently    listen    lo    the 
complaints  and  reports  that  are  brought 
to  you.     Silence  not  the  speaker,  for 
you  are  God's  image,  and  his  repre- 
sentative :  he  dwells  in  you,  using  you 
as  the  organ  (flute)  through  which  he 
speaks ;    and   he  hears  through  your 
ears.     Punish  no  man  without  cause, 
for  the  right  of  inflicting  punishment, 
which  you  hold,  is  of  God  : — it  is  as  it 
were  the  talons  and  the  teeth  of  God, 
to  execute  justice.     Be  just,  and  let 
who    will    be    offended ;    for    such    is 
God's  decree.     Be  it  your  care  that  in 
the  tribunals    all   things  be  done  ac- 
cording to  order,  and  without  precipi- 
tancy, and   nothing   in    passion.     Let 
it  never  enter  your  heart,  to  say,  I  am 
Master,  and  will  do  as  I   please  ;   for 
that  would  tend  to  destroy  your  power, 
lower  you  in  men's  esteem,  and  impair 
your  royal  majesty.     Suffer  not  your 
power  and  dignity  to  be  to  you    the 
occasion  of  pride   and  arrogance,  but 
let  them  rather  remind  you  of  the  low- 
liness    from    which    you     have    been 
raised,    without    any    merit    of   yours. 
Be  not  given  to  sleep,  nor  to  indolence 
and      sensuality,     nor     to     reveling. 
Squander  not  the  sweat  and  the  toil 
of  your  subjects.     The   favor   which 
God   has   shown  you,  abuse  not    for 
profane  and  senseless  purposes.      Our 
Lord  and    King !     God   has    his  eye 
upon  the  rulers  of  States,  and   when 
they    commit    a    fault,    he    laughs    in 
scorn,  but  is  silent  :    for   he  is   God, 
and    does  what   he  will,  and  derides 
whom  he  will  :  for  he  holds   us  in  his 
hand,    tosses    us   from    side    to   side, 
laughing   at   us   when  we  totter   and 
fall." 

The  material  progress  of  the  Mexi- 
can nation  may  be  judged  by  the 
number  and  size  of  the  cities.  The 
city  of  Mexico  had  from  fifty  to  sixty 
thousand  families,  or  houses,  as  some 


authors  suppose ;  Tezcuco  was  of 
equal  magnitude  ;  Tzimpantzinco  had 
20,000;  Cholula,  Huexocinco  and 
Tepeaca,  each  40,000;  Xochimilco 
80,000  ;  According  to  Cortez  himself 
Tlascala  was  in  every  respect  a  more 
opulent  place  than  Granada  in  Spain. 
These  cities  all  possessed  buildings  of 
considerable  magnificence,  and  there 
were  besides  a  number  of  smaller 
cities.* 

The  earnestness  of  their  moral  sen- 
timents is  evinced  by  the  rigid  disci- 
pline enforced  as  well  in  their  domes- 
tic education  as  in  that  of  their  schools 
and  seminaries,  and  by  the  exhorta- 
tions, the  prayers  and  the  proverbs  ' 
which  were  learned  by  rote.  "  Noth- 
ing," says  Padre  Acosta,  "astonished 
me  more  or  appeared  to  me  more 
praiseworthy  and  notable,  than  the 
system  followed  by  the  Mexicans  in 
the  education  of  their  children." 
"  In  truth  it  were  difficult  to  find  a 
nation,"  adds  Clavigero,  "  that  be- 
stows more  diligent  care  than  they 
upon  a  matter  which  so  nearly  con- 
cerns the  well-being  of  the  state. 
Doubtless,"  he  continues,  "they  dis- 
figured their  teaching  with  supersti- 
tions ;  but  still  the  zeal  they  showed 
for  education  might  well  put  to  shame 
many  a  father  of  a  family  in  Europe  : 
and  many  of  the  instructions  which 
they  gave  to  the  pupils  would  make 
profitable  reading  for  our  own  young 
people."  f 

As  a  specimen  of  these  I  give  the  ex- 
hortation addressed  by  a  Mexican  to 
his  son,  which  is  admitted. to  be  gen- 
uine by  all  the  critics  :  %  "  My  son, 
you  came  forth  out  of  your  mothers 


*  Sahagun,  a/.  Waltz,  IV.  6S. 


*  Cf.  Waitz,  IV.  93. 

t  Clavigero,  I.  299. 

\  I  translate  it  from  Clavigero's  work  (ubi 
supra).  He  says  it  came  to  his  hands  from 
those  of  Motolinia,  Olmos  and  Sahagun, 
missionaries  in  Mexico,  perfect  mastei -s  "t 
the  language,  and  zealous  students  of  Mexi- 
can manners,  etc.  Besides  this  address  of  the 
father  to  his  son,  Clavigero.  gives  a  similar 
address  of  the  mother  to  her  daughter,  to  be 
found  in  Trescott  (Append.  II.),  and  which  is 
even  a  more  charming  composition  than  the 
address  given  in  the  text.  (See  the  latter  also 
in  Waitz,  IV.  125,  who  takes  it  from  Saha- 
gun, Hist,  de  N.  Espana,  VI.  18.) 


100 


11.1  I  •    lll.vM. 


womb  as  the  chick  from  the  egg,  and 
.is  you  grow  \' 'U  are  like  the  chi<  k 
preparing  for  your  flight  over  the 
earth,  nor  is  it  given  us  to  know  how 
long  Heaven  will  insure  to  us  the 
jewel  whit  li  we  possess  in  you. 
I  [owever  that  may  be,  be  it  your  rare 
to  lead  a  coiic,  i  life,  praying  urn 
ingly  to  God  for  Ins  support.  It  was 
he  that  <  reated  you,  and  he  is  your 
owner.  He  is  your  Father,  and  loves 
you  more  than  I.  Turn  your  thoughts 
Cod  ward,  and  let  your  aspirations! 
rise  to  him  by  day  and  by  night. 
Honor  and  greet  those  who  are  older 
than  yourself,  and  never  give  them 
tokens  of  contempt.  Be  not  deaf  for' 
the  poor  and  the  unfortunate,  but 
rather  make  haste  to  console  them 
with  kindly  words.  Pay  respect  to 
all  men,  especially  your  parents,  to 
whom  you  owe  obedience,  reverence 
and  dutiful  service.  Have  a  care 
never  to  follow  the  examples  of  those 
wayward  boys,  who  are  like  wild 
beasts  void  of  reason,  and  who  do 
not  respect  those  who  have  given 
them  their  being,  nor  heed  their  ad- 
monitions, nor  submit  to  correction  : 
for  whoso  walks  his  own  ways  will 
come  to  a  disastrous  end,  dying  in 
blank  despair:  he  will  either  be 
hurled  down  a  precipice,  or  will  fall 
under  the  claws  of  wild  beasts.  Make 
nol  merry,  my  son,  over  the  aged,  nor 
over  those  who  have  any  bodily  de- 
fect. Mock  not  those  who  happen  to 
make  a  misstep,  nor  reproach  them 
therewith  ;  on  the  contrary  be  hum- 
ble, and  fear  lest  what  offends  you  in 
others  become  your  own.  Go  not 
whither  you  are  not  invited,  nor  med- 
dle in  affairs  which  are  none  of  yours. 
In  all  that  you  say,  and  in  all  that 
you  do,  be  it  your  study  to  show  your 
good  breeding.  When  you  converse 
with  any  one,  do  not  annoy  him  with 
your  hands  (mit  den  Handen  belas- 
tigen)  nor  be  too  voluble  :  do  not  in- 
terrupt or  disturb  others  with  your  re- 
marks. If  perchance  you  hear  a  man 
speaking  foolishly,  and  it  is  not  your 
business  to  correct  him,  hold  your 
peace  :  but  if  it  is  your  business,  then 
consider  first  what  you  will  say,  and 


speak  not   .n  n  gantly,  that  your 

ns  maj  avail  the  more.     When 
any  man  addresses  you,  listen  to  him 

attentively  and  with  proper  demeanor, 
neither  shuffling  your  feet,  not  munch- 
ing your  mantle,  nor  spitting   out,  nor 

jumping  up  every  moment  if  you  are 

seated  :   for  SUi  h  I  ondui  t  shows  levity 

and    bid    breeding.      When    you    are 

1  at    table,  eat  not    ravenously, 

nor  betray  signs  ot  displeasure,  it  any 
dish  fails  to  please  yon.  If  anyone 
COmes  in  while  yon  are  at 
share  with  him  what  you  have,  and 
when  one  sits  at  your  board,  fix  not 
your  gaze  upon  him.  When  you  go 
out,  keep  your  eyes  directed  forward 
lest  you  hustle  against  those  you  meet. 
When  any  one  approaches  you,  walk- 
ing on  the  same  path,  give  place  a  lit- 
tle that  he  may  have  room  to  pass. 
Never  walk  in  advance  of  your  supe- 
riors, except  when  necessity  requires 
that  you  should,  or  they  command  it. 
When  you  eat  in  company  with  them, 
serve  them  with  whatever  they  wish, 
and  so  you  will  gain  their  favor.  If 
a  man  make  you  a  gift,  receive  it  with 
tokens  of  gratitude:  if  the  gift  is  of 
great  value,  be  not  vain  of  it  :  if  it  is 
trifling,  do  not.  despise  it,  nor  grow 
angry,  nor  anger  the  man  who  does 
you  a  friendly  act.  If  you  are  rich, 
be  not  supercilious  toward  the  poor 
and  the  needy  :  for  the  gods  who  re- 
fused riches  to  others  in  order  to  be- 
stow them  on  you,  disgusted  at  your 
arrogance,  may  strip  you  of  them,  and 
give  them  to  others.  Live  by  the 
fruits  of  your  labor,  and  then  your 
bread  will  taste  sweet.  Hitherto,  my 
son,  I  have  supported  you  with  the 
sweat  of  my  brow  and  I  have  (lis 
charged  all  the  duties  of  a  father  ;  I 
have  given  you  the  necessaries  of  life, 
without  wronging  any  man.  Do  you 
the  same.  Never  tell  a  lie,  for  lying  is 
a  grievous  sin.  Whenever  you  recount 
to  another  what  you  yourself  have 
heard,  then  tell  the  simple  truth  with- 
out adding  anything.  Speak  not  evil 
of  any  man.  Conceal  the  misconduct 
of  others,  unless  it  be  your  duty  to 
mend  it.  Avoid  gossiping,  sow  not 
the  seeds  of  discord.     If  you  are  the 


FETICHISM. 


101 


bearer  of  a  message  to  any  one,  and 
he  grows  angry,  and  he  vituperates 
the  sender  of  the  message,  do  not 
take  back  that  reply,  but  strive  rather 
to  deprive  it  of  its  harshness,  and  if 
possible  say  not  a  word  of  what  you 
have  heard  so  that  there  may  not  be 
dissensions  and  disagreements,  which 
you  could  only  regret.  Tarry  not  in 
the  market-place  longer  than  is  need- 
ful, for  such  places  afford  frequent 
temptations  to  debauchery.  If  an  of- 
fice is  tendered  you,  regard  the  offer 
as  made  with  a  view  to  test  you : 
therefore  do  not  accept  at  once,  even 
though  you  know  you  are  more  capa- 
ble than  others  ;  but  excuse  yourself, 
until  they  oblige  you  to  accept :  thus 
you  will  be  all  the  more  esteemed. 
Keep  your  passions  in  check,  else  the 
gods  will  be  angered  with  you  and 
cover  you  with  disgrace.  Repress 
your  sensual  desires,  my  son,  for  you 
are  still  young;  and  patiently  await 
the  time  when  the  maid,  whom  the 
gods  have  chosen  for  your  wife,  shall 
have  reached  the  required  age. 
Leave  such  concerns  to  the  care  of 
the  gods  ;  they  will  do  what  is  best 
for  you.  When  the  time  comes  for 
you  to  marry  take  no  step  without 
your  parents'  consent,  else  you  will 
meet  with  an  evil  end.  Steal  not,  rob 
not,  if  you  would  not  disgrace  your 
parents :  it  is  your  duty  rather  to  re- 
flect honor  upon  them  and  to  show 
that  they  brought  you  up  properly. 
That  is  all,  my  son  ;  I  have  discharged 
my  duty  as  father.  It  was  my  pur- 
pose to  confirm  you  in  good  disposi- 
tions by  this  instruction.  Do  not  de- 
spise my  words  :  for  your  happiness 
through  life  depends  upon  your  fidel- 
ity." 

Prescott  gives  a  number  of  Mexi- 
can proverbs,*  which,  according  to 
him,  may  compare  with  any  found 
in  the  moral  codes  of  antiquity.  He 
discovers  in  the  following  admonition 
"  a  most  striking  resemblance  to 
Holy  Writ  "  :  "  Regard  not  curiously 
the  walk  and  demeanor  of  the  great, 
nor  of  women,  especially  married  wo- 

*Vol.  I. 


men,  for  the  old  proverb  says :  Whoso 
regards  a  woman  with  curiosity,  com- 
mits adultery  with  his  eyes."  *  Mon- 
ogamy was  the  rule  amongst  the 
Mexicans,  and  in  this  respect  they 
came  up  to  that  moral  standard  of 
marriage  with  which  we  are  familiar. 
Nor  was  the  idea  they  had  of  their 
gods  unworthy  of  their  moral  code, 
and  Clavigero,  who  compares  Grecian 
and  Roman  Mythology  with  that  of 
Mexico,  thus  expresses  himself : 
"There  is  not  to  be  found  anywhere 
in  Mexican  Mythology  a  trace  of 
those  immoralities  with  which  other 
nations  have  disgraced  their  gods. 
The  Mexicans  paid  homage  to  virtue 
rather  than  to  vice,  in  the  ob- 
jects of  their  religious  veneration  :  in 
Huitzilapochli  they  honored  valor; 
in  Centeotl  and  others,  benevolence; 
in  Quetzalcoatl,  chastity,  justice  and 
prudence.  Though  their  gods  were 
of  both  sexes,  still  they  did  not 
marry  them  to  one  another,  nor  did 
they  attribute  to  them  that  love  of 
obscenity  with  which  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  credited  their  gods.  They 
represented  them  as  averse  to  all 
kind  of  vicious  indulgence  and  hence 
their  worship  was  intended  merely 
to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  gods, 
excited  by  the  sins  of  mankind,  and 
to  secure  their  protection  by  repent- 
ance and  religious  service."  It  is  no 
wonder  if  so  enlightened  a  re'ligious 
system  as  this  surprised  the  Christian 
priests ;  and  the  latter  would  no 
doubt  have  preferred  to  find  it  of  a 
lower  type.  The  language  of  Mex- 
ico, rich  in  metaphysical  and  moral 
expressions,  opposed  no  obstacle  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Christian  Doc- 
trine, and  Clavigero  gives  specimens 
of  the  writings  of  84  European  and 
Creole  authors  "  who  treated  of 
Christian  Doctrine  and  morals  in  the 
languages  of  Anahuac,"  as  also  a 
list   of   49  Autores  de  Gramaticas  y 


*  Sahagun,  VI.  22.  Tampoco  mires  con 
curiosidad  el  gesto  y  disposicion  de  la  gente 
principal,  mayormente  de  las  mugeres,  y 
sobre  todo  de  las  casadas,  porque  dice  el 
refran,  que  el  que  curiosamente  mira  a  la 
muger  adultera  con  la  vista. 


1 1 12 


FETII  HISM. 


I >i       narios  de   las  lenguas   de    v 
ahu 

K;'       \  tl    endeavored 

away  with  the  human  sa<  rifices 
which  were  so  frequent  in  M 
but  without  success,  and  the  attempt 
only  served  to  show  him  how  difficult 
it  is  to  convince  the  people  of  the 
falsity  of  ancient  religious  notions 
which  have  taken  root  in  their 
tions.  We  may  justly  reproach  the 
cans  with  their  religious  fanati- 
as  displayed  in  these  sacrifices  : 
hut  we  must  not  charge  them  with 
inhuman  cruelty.  In  fact  no  a 
is/<r  se  either  good  or  evil,  but 
its  moral  quality  to  the  motive  which 
prompts  it  :  and  the  same  is  to  be 
said  of  human  sacrifice.  The  Mex- 
icans offered  to  the  gods  the  most 
precious  goods  they  possessed,  viz., 
themselves,  human  beings.  No  ani- 
mal could  suffice,  and  man  alone  was 
the  becoming  victim  to  atone  for  sin. 
And  is  not  the  protoundest  teaching 
of  Christianity  based  on  that  last  and 
greatest  human  sacrifice  ?  Hence 
the  motive  which  led  them  to  offer 
human  victims  was  the  profound 
earnestness  of  their  religious  convic- 
tions, besides,  as  the  Mexicans  sac- 
rificed only  condemned  criminals  and 
prisoners  of  war,  Montezuma  could 
with  some  show  of  reason  excuse 
this  custom,  as  he  did,  by  saying  to 
Cortex  :  "We  have  the  right,  as  you 
also  have,  of  slaying  our  foes  in 
battle.  Where,  then,  is  the  injustice 
if  we  sacrifice  in  honor  of  our  gods 
men  already  doomed  to  death  ?  "  t 

That  we  should  find  remnants  of 
the  lower  grades  of  fetichism  in  com- 
pany with  the  worship  of  the  Sun  and 
of  Gods,  was  to  be  expected.  The 
Mexicans  appear  to  have  been  largely 
given  to  Animal-fetichism.  It  in- 
cluded the  frog,  the  God  of  fishery, 
as  also  the  butterfly  and  other  insects.! 
\  grave  containing  the  bones  of  some 
unknown   animal,  was   found   in  1790, 

*  <  llavigero,  1 1 , 

t  Clavigero,  Tom.  II.  Append.  VIII. 

J  kictcis  Antiguos,  Sacrificios  e  Idolatrias  de 
los  Ind.de  la  N.  Esp.  p.un  frayle  menoi  (1541) 
(ap.  Kingsborough,  IX.)  21  ;   (l.nnara,  444. 


and  in  it  v  discovered   the   fa 

mous  (  alendai 

1  I  mi  a.  Chiapas.  Yucatan,  Guate- 
mala and  Ni<  aragua  f  stand  on  the 
same    level    with    Mev.  _ai<|s 

religion  and  culture     The  Peruvians, 

who  were  the  equals  of  the    Mexi(  ins 
in  intellectual   and   material   advi 
inent.  surpassed  them  perhaps  in  hum al 
culture.! 

Although  the  Peruvians,  no  less  than 
the  Mexicans,  worshiped  a  multitude 
is  j  the}-  too  held  the  Sun  to  be 
supreme,  none  of  the  other  g"l- 
ing  near  him  in  sanctity  or  eminent  e, 
pt  perhaps  Pachacamac.  Pre- 
vious to  the  I nca  period  the  Peruvians 
were  by  no  means  such  savages 
tluy  are  represented  to  have  been  by 
Garcilasso,  who  attributes  to  them  all 
kinds  of  fetichism,  and  who  ass 
that  Sun-worship  was  introduced  by 
the  Incas.  On  the  contrary,  the  Sun 
was  worshiped  in  Peru,  before  the 
time  of  the  Incas.  having  been  intro- 
duced by  the  Aymaras,  "  the  prede- 
cessors and  teachers  of  the  Inca-Peru- 
vians."||  But  the  Incas.  to  whose 
family  Garcilasso  belonged,  had  an 
interest  in  ascribing  to  themselves  the 
honor  of  having  been  the  founders  of 
the  State  and  of  the  religion  of  Peru. 
The  storv  which  they  told  in  confirm- 
ation of  their  claim  is  characteristic. IT 
"  The  Sun.  our  Father,  seeing  the 
pitiable  condition  of  mankind,  was 
moved  to  compassion  and  sent  to  them 
from  heaven  two  of  his  children,  a  son 
and  a  daughter,  to  teach  them  how  to- 
do  him  honor,  and  pay  him  divine 
worship.  These  two  children  of  the 
Sun  were  further  charged  to  give  laws 
to  men,  and  to  direct  them  how  to 
live  like  rational  creatures,  to  acquire 
culture,  to  dwell  in  houses,  to  inhabit 
cities,  till  the  soil,  cultivate  plants, 
save  the  harvest,  breed  cattle,  enjoy 


*  Gama,  I.  12. 

I  (■/.  Wait/.  IV.  312. 

t  Prescott,  Conq.  of  Peru,  I.  Hook  1; 
Wuttke,  Gesch.d.  1 1. 1.  S.  303-336;  Wait/.  IV. 
378-477  I  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Hist.  Gen. 
del  Peru,    Cordova,  [617. 

$Cf.  Wait/.  IV.  452  seqq. 

j>  Wait/.  IV.   447. 

•  i;.,i.  ilasso,  I.  c  XV.  XVI. 


FETICHISM. 


103'. 


the  benefits  derived  from  all  these 
sources,  prepare  the  products  of  the 
soil  for  food  :  in  a  word,  their  mission 
was  to  teach  the  people  how  to  live 
like  men,  rather  than  like  wild  beasts. 
It  having  pleased  the  Sun,  our  Father, 
to  give  his  children  such  commands  as 
these,  he  let  them  down  upon  the  earth 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Titicaca, 
bidding  them  to  go  whithersoever  they 
would.  They  were  however  instructed 
to  drive  into  the  earth  a  golden  staff 
wherever  they  thought  of  establishing 
their  residence  in  any  particular  spot  : 
if  the  staff  on  the  first  blow  sank  into 
the  earth,  it  was  the  will  of  the  Sun, 
our  Father,  that  they  should  settle 
there.  On  coming  to  the  spot  where 
Cuzco  was  afterwards  founded,  the 
sign  which  had  been  foretold  was 
given  to  them.  The  savages  soon  be- 
gan to  flock  around  them,  gazing  with 
wonder  on  the  pair,  who  were  arrayed 
in  the  precious  apparel  of  the  Sun,  and 
who.  no  less  by  their  speech  than  by 
the  majesty  of  their  countenance,  gave 
evidence  that  they  were  the  children 
of  the  Sun.  Then  the  Inca  instructed 
the  men  in  all  needful  arts,  such  as 
house-building  and  agriculture  ;  while 
his  sister  and  spouse  gave  instruction 
to  the  women  in  all  kinds  of  feminine 
work,  such  as  needlework,  and  the 
weaving  of  cotton  and  woolen  cloth, 
the  making  of  garments,  etc.  Further- 
more, they  both  taught  the  natives  the 
worship  of  the  Sun,  their  Father." 

Thus  the  Sun  was  worshiped,  and 
we  have  now  to  ascertain  in  what 
light  they  regarded  this  object  of  re- 
ligious veneration.  Man  can  attribute 
to  any  object  only  those  notions  which 
he  already  possesses.  The  higher 
then  his  development,  in  an  intel- 
lectual and  in  a  moral  sense,  the 
nobler  will  be  the  conception  he  has 
of  the  object  which  he  takes  for 
his  supreme  ideal.  The  Peruvian  will 
regard  the  Sun  as  combining  all  those 
virtues  and  properties  which  he  has 
himself. 

They  were  an  industrious  and  an 
ingenious  people.  Agriculture  formed 
the  basis  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
was    pursued   with  the  greatest    dili- 


gence and  skill.  No  spot  of  ground 
was  untilled,  maize  and  potatoes  be- 
ing the  chief  products  of  the  soil.* 
Even  the  stony  sides  of  the  mount- 
ains were  turned  into  blooming  gar- 
dens, by  means  of  terracing,  artificial 
irrigation  and  the  use  of  guano  as 
manure.  They  produced  excellent 
cotton  and  woolen  fabrics,  and  their 
metal  manufactures,  in  gold,  silver, 
copper  and  tin  (they  had  no  iron)  bore 
the  stamp  of  skillful  workmanship. 
Every  part  of  the  country  was  con- 
nected with  Cuzco,  the  capital,  by 
means  of  excellent  highways,  some 
paved,  others  macadamized,!  having 
well-constructed  bridges,  a  service  of 
posts  and  a  sort  of  telegraphic  system. 
The  latter  enabled  them  to  send  dis- 
patches a  distance  of  900  miles  in 
three  or  four  hours.!  Cuzco  had  a 
population  of  200,000  souls,  exclusive 
of  an  equal  number  dwelling  in  its 
suburbs.  The  other  cities  were  small- 
er, and  yet  had  a  considerable  popu- 
lation. §  By  means  of  a  division  of 
the  population  into  decads  the  most 
exemplary  order  was  maintained.  || 
The  entire  population  formed  one 
family,  the  Inca  being  its  head.  All 
labored  and  earned  for  the  good  of 
all.  The  state,  not  the  individual,  was 
an  owner  of  property.  Hence  none 
were  rich,  but  also  none  were  poor. 
The  contrast  between  proprietors  and 
non-proprietors  was  done  away,  and 
all  enjoyed  prosperity.  There  were 
neither  beggars  nor  drones. IT  The 
citizen's  obligation  to  labor  was  cor- 
relative with  that  of  the  state,  which 
owned  his  labor  and  its  total  product, 
to  reward  him  for  his  toil.  Under  the 
guardian  rule  of  the  Incas,  whose  du- 
ties were  prescribed  to  them  by  the 
Sun  their  Father,  and  who  but  rarely, 
as  history  attests,  failed  to  exercise  a 
paternal  care  for  the  commonwealth, 
the  people  lived  in  peace  and  happi- 
ness.    Each  conquered    nation  were 

*  Prescott,  I. 

t  Waitz,  IV.  429. 

t  Garcilasso,  VI.  c.  7  ;  Wuttke,  I.  334. 

§  Cf.  Waitz,  IV.  424. 

II  Prescott,  I. 

IT  lb.  I. 


104 


I  I   I  I«  IUSM. 


inim-  illowed    to    share    the 

5  and  prh  ileges  oi  theii  conquer- 

il   was    the  desire    • 

tend  civilization  that  led  them  to  un- 
dertake wars  of  COnqU< 

It  is  evident  that  su<  I)  a  constitu- 
tion "t  tlie-  empire  must  have  had 
many  defects,  and  that  it  hindered 
individual  development,  as  well  as 
favored  the  abuse  oi  power  by  a  ty- 
rannic al  Inca.  It  was  for  the  interest 
of  the  [ncas  to  keep  the  people  in 
subjection,  and   hence   they  cut    them 

o  jealously  from  all  intelli 
culture,  the  possession    of  which  they 
reserved  for  themselves  alone. 

A  state  organized  on  such  princi- 
ple cannot  subsist  without  a  morality 
quite  free  from  selfishness,  that  root  of  j 
all  evil.  Their  family-life  was  chaste 
and  pure;  their  women  were  not 
chattels,  as  among  savages,  but  per- 
sons who,  as  represented  in  the  vir- 
gins of  the  Sun,  held  a  high  position 
in  the  ceremonies  of  religion.  Intel- 
lectual culture,  in  the  sense  of  erudi- 
tion, was  restricted  to  the  Inca  caste  ; 
still  the  education  of  the  people  was 
a  function  of  the  state.  The  picture- 
writing  of  the  Mexicans  was  here  re- 

d  by  that  curious  contrivance,  the 
quipu,t  which  was  employed  by  many 
scholars,    and  also,  but    in   a  less  de- 

.  by    the    people    generally.     Gar- 
5SO  speaks  of  maps  of   the    whole 
country  and  of  particular  districts  and 
ol  i  harts  of  <  ities.      The  learned  class 
did  not,  as  in  Mexico,  belong  exclus- 
ively to  the  priesthood,  and  they  were 
gers,  physicians,  bot- 
anists, ports,  designers,  painters.  etC.J 
The  Quechua,  like  the  Mexican  lan- 
mtained  a   number   ol   very 
terms,  such  as  spirit,  thought, 
eternal,  etc.,  which   will   enable  us  to 
form  some    notion    of   the    degree   of 
mental   development  attained  by  this 

le.§ 
As  to  the  Peruvian  mode  of  reckon- 
ing time  we   have  not   the    same  a<  <  U- 


*//..   I. 

Wait/,  IV.  470. 

173- 
S  Tb. 


rate  information  as  we  have  with  re- 
gard to  that  of  the  Mexicans.  Hum- 
boldt •  says  that  the  year  was  made 
upoi   i-'  lunar   months,  giving   a  total 

.  -  in.  ;    and    a<  (  ordil  [ 
Rivero  and  Tschudi,t   n  intercalary 

days  were    added  at    the  end    ot  ea<  ii 

year,  but  according  to  Herrera  X  there 
were  12  intercalary  days,  one  1 
added  at  the  end  oi  each  month.  I  n  the 
n  'i:i-  I  >■  sjardins  ? 
maintains  that  the  Peruvian  computa- 
tion was  more  exact  than  the  Mexi- 
can, and  Montesinos  ||  speaks  of  very 
se  inten  alations,  and  of  1  y<  les 
of  10.  of  100  and  1000  years.  But 
Waitz  has  strong  d<  ubts  as  to  these 
statements. 

Prescott  ranks  the  Peruvians  above 
the  Mexicans  for  skillful  workman- 
ship in  house-building,  tillage,  and 
the  construction  of  roads  and  canals. 
Their  inferiority  to  the  Mexicans  in 
intellectual  culture — for  instance,  in 
astronomy — he  strives  to  explain  by 
showing  that  the  Mexicans  owed  their 
intellectual  advancement,  not  to  their 
own  native  qualities,  but  to  that 
mysterious  Toltec  stock,  which  the 
■  f  history  fails  to  discern,  and 
which  Prescott  supposes  to  have  been 
equaled  by  the  Peruvians  in  all  other 
departments  of  culture.1I 

Among  a  1  eople.  who  have  reached 
so  high  a  degree  of  moral  and  intel- 
lectual development,  the  ideal  object 
of  worship  must  exhibit  these  moral 
characteristics  in  the  highest  degree. 
And  such  is  here  the  case,  for  the 
Peruvians  regarded  tin-  Sen  "on  the 
one  hand,  according  to  his  p< 
in  Nature,  as  the  great  Power  of  the 
universe  which  upholds  all  things  (a 
mere  heavenly  body):  but  on  the 
other  hand  (anthropopathically)  as  a 
spiritual  1  lower,  having  mind  and  will. 
Not  that  there  was  supposed  to  be 
any    spiritual     object     whose    symbol 

*  Vues  des  <  !ordilleres,  129. 

I  kiv.  v  Tschudi,   Antig.  1'eruanas.  Viena, 
1851,  p.  127. 

I  Hem  1.1.  V,  t.  5. 

$  1 1  a   avant  la  Conq.  Espagn. 

Par.  1858,  p.  122. 

Waitz,  IV.  474. 

*  Pr<  si  ott,  Peru,  I. 


FETICIIISM. 


105 


was  the  Sun  {i.e.,  the  object  of  wor- 
ship was  not  a  spirit  inhabiting  the 
Sun) ;  but  the  bright  luminary  itself 
(in  his  own  proper  form  and  shape) 
was  truly  and  really  the  deity,  though 
not  as  a  simple,  soulless  sphere,  but 
as  a  divine  and  animated  body,  im- 
parting to  all  things  around  him  light 
and  life."  *  When  once  a  monk  ex- 
pounded the  Christian  doctrine  to  the 
Inca  Atahuallpa,  and  asked  him  to 
renounce  his  faith,  the  eyes  of  the 
prince  flashed  fire,  and  he  exclaimed  : 
"  I  will'  never  change  my  faith.  Your 
God  was,  as  you  say,  put  to  death  by 
the  men  he  himself  had  created.  But 
my  God,"  said  he,  pointing  to  the  Sun 
which  was  then  setting  in  full  splendor 
behind  the  mountains,  "  my  God  lives 
in  the  heavens,  and  looks  down  upon 
his  children."  f  When  the  Sun  sent 
his  children  down  upon  the  earth  he 
thus  addressed  them  :  "  My  children, 
when  you  have  subjected  these  people 
to  our  obedience,  it  must  be  your 
study  to  hold  them  by  the  laws  of 
reason,  of  piety,  of  mercy  and  of 
justice,  doing  for  them  all  that  a 
father  is  wont  to  do  for  the  children 
whom  he  has  begotten  and  whom  he 
tenderly  loves.  Herein  you  will  fol- 
low my  example,  for,  as  you  know, 
I  never  cease  to  do  good  to  all  mor- 
tals. I  illumine  them  with  my  light, 
to  the  end  they  may  see  and  go  about 
their  affairs :  when  they  are  cold,  I 
warm  them ;  I  make  their  fields  and 
their  meadows  productive,  bring  forth 
fruit  on  their  trees,  increase  their 
herds  and  send  them  rain  and  fair 
weather  as  need  may  be.  Further,  I 
journey  around  the  world  daily,  to 
see  what  the  earth  needs,'  and  to  re- 
store all  things  to  order,  for  the  com- 
fort of  its  inhabitants.  Therefore  it 
is  my  will  that  ye  follow  my  example, 
as  most  dear  children,  whom  I  send 
on  earth  for  the  welfare  and  the  in- 
struction of  these  poor  men,  who  live 
like  beasts.  Hence  I  give  you  the 
title  of  kings,  and  I  desire  that  your 
kingdom    be    extended    over    all    the 


*  Wuttke,  I.  306  seq. 
.  t  Prescott,  I.  3. 


nations  whom  ye  shall  instruct  in 
right  principles  and  good  morals,  es- 
pecially by  your  example  and  mild 
rule."  *  Through  reverence  for  the 
Sun,  even  the  Inca  durst  not  look 
upon  its  face.f 

The  offerings  made  to  the  Sun  con- 
sisted, besides  the  morning  prayer,  at 
his  rising,  of  a  libation  (as  among  the 
Persians);  then  of  fruits,  herbs,  flowers 
and  animals,  llamas  especially. t  Gar- 
cilasso  expressly  denies  that  they  of- 
fered human  sacrifices,  and  often 
mentions  the  laws  which  forbade  the 
sacrifice  of  captives :  still  other  ac- 
counts render  it  tolerably  certain  that 
on  high  festivals  they  sacrificed  a 
child  or  a  beautiful  maiden. 

Where  Sun-worship  is  so  highly 
developed,  the  worship  of  the  other 
heavenly  bodies  holds  a  very  subordi- 
nate position.  They  worshiped  the 
Moon  as  the  Sun's  sister  and  spouse, 
and  the  stars  (among  which  Venus 
and  the  Pleiades  were  specially  ob- 
served) §  were  considered  as  their 
suite.\\  The  most  famous  temple  in 
Peru  was  that  of  the  Sun,  at  Cuzco, 
which,  on  account  of  its  fabulously 
rich  endowments,  was  called  Cori- 
cancha — Place  of  Gold  ;1[  and  the 
temple  next  in  renown  was  that  of 
Pachacamac,  also  at  Cuzco.  The 
Temple  of  the  Sun  included  a  chapel 
plated  all  over  with  silver,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  Moon,  as  also  three  other 
chapels,  richly  plated  with  gold  and 
silver,  and  sacred  to  the  Stars,  to 
Thunder  and  Lightning,  and  to  the 
Rainbow. 

With  the  Peruvians  we  may  class, 
from  the  religious  point  of  view,  first 
the  Araucanians,**  who  dwell  to  the 
south,  in  Chile,  and  who  reckoned  a 
solar  year  of  12  months,  each  month 
having  30  days,  and  five  days  being 
intercalated  through  the  year.  They 
were    able  to  determine    the   time  of 


*  Garcilasso,  I.  lib.  I.  c.  XV. 

t  lb.  IX.  c.  \. 

%  lb.  II.  c.  VI  [I. 

§  Cf.  Waitz,  IV.  475. 

||  Prescott,  I. 

IT  lb. 

**  Cf.  Waitz,  III.  515  ft. 


106 


II    I  K  1I1SM. 


from  the  length  of  shad- 
Then  i  .mil-   .1   \  i-i  \    ad\  am  ed 
!    higher   culture   than    the 
\  nians,  viz.,  the  i  !hib<  has,* 

their  kinsmen,  living  in  New  Granada, 
intry  whose  antiquities  bespeak 
s  inhabitants  a  relatively  high 
•  culture  in  very  early  times. 
Among  tin-  Chibchas  the   Sun   held 
the  same  important  position  as  among 
the  Peruvians.     There  is  no  evidence 
to  show  that  they  imported  from  Peru 
their   religion   and    their   intellectual 
culture,  but    rather  everything   tends 
to  prove  that  their  development  was 
of  native  growth. 

7.  The  Worship  of  the  Heavens. 

In  the  view  taken  of  the  heavens 
by  all  men  on  the  basis  of  the  exter- 
nal appearances,  the  heavenly  bodies 
pass  for  bright  points  fixed  in  the 
blue  vault  of  the  sky,  rather  than  for 
spheres  free-poised  in  infinite  space. 
Sun,  moon  and  stars  are  only  parts  cf  i 
the  celestial  vault.  Hence,  howso- ! 
ever  they  may  differ  from  one  anoth- ' 
er,  still  essentially  they  are  of  equal 
value,  being  all  celestial.  The  suprem- 
acy therefore  does  not  belong  to  this 
or  to  that  one  body,  but  to  the  entire 
firmament.  It  is  therefore  really  no 
new  standpoint,  but  rather  the  sum  of 
the  data  already  obtained,  if  now  the 
religious  consciousness  considers  no 
r  the  sun.  the  moon,  or  the  stars, 
but  the  sum-total  of  them  all,  the  ce- 
lestial vault,  the  sky  itself,  as  the  su- 
preme fetich,  the  supreme  god.  And 
here  too,  as  in  all  the  objects  of  fe- 
tich-worship, it  is  the  vault  of  heaven, 
as  such,  anthropopathically  appre- 
hended, and  not  any  god  supposed 
to  be  symbolized  by  it.  that  receives 
religious  honors.  But  this  worship  of 
the  entire  heavens  docs  by  no  means 
interfere  with  the  worship  of  the  in- 
dividual heavenly  bodies,  but  rather, 
on  the  contrary,  favors  it.  Sun,  moon 
and  stars  may  each  receive  its  peculiar 
worship  and  sacrifice  ;  but  no  one  of 
them    has    the   absolute    ascendency. 


*  lb.  IV.  532  ff. 


That    the    people    who    stand    on    this 

stage  of  Fetichism  are,  from  a  mental 
and    moral   point    of  view,  very  ad- 

\  .in.  ed,  follows  from  what  has  been  al- 
ready said.     As  i,  presentatives of  this 

stage  we   might    (  ite   the   1'eisians.   as 

des,  ribed  by  I  [erodotus  ;  also  the  Chi- 
nese. 

"  To  ere<  t  statues  of  the  gods,  al- 
tars and  temples,"  says  Herodotus, 
'•  is  not  the  custom  of  the  Persians, 
and  indeed  they  reproach  those  who 
do  so  with  folly,  and  this,  as  it  ap] 
to  me,  for  the  reason  that  they  do  not 
believe,  as  do  the  Greeks,  that  the 
gods  are  anthropomorphic.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  wont  to  sacrifice  to 
Zeus  on  the  summits  of  high  mount- 
ains, and  to  invoke  the  entire  celestial 
vault  as  Zeus.  They  also  sacrifice  to 
the  sun  and  the  moon  :  to  the  earth, 

to  fire  and   to  the    winds The 

Persians  have  no  holocausts,  no  liba- 
tions, no  meat-offering,  no  flutes,  no 
garlands,  no  barley  cakes  :  but  who- 
ever would  sacrifice  to  one  of  these 
gods  puts  a  crown  of  myrtle  around 
his  tiara,  conducts  the  animal  to  some 
place  free  from  pollution,  and  there 
prays  to  the  god  to  whom  he  is  about 
to  make  the  offering.  Still  he  prays  not 
for  himself  alone,  but  prays  rather 
that  it  may  be  well  with  all  Persians 
and  with  the  king.  Then  the  animal 
is  slain,  cut  up,  seethed,  and  afterward 
spread  upon  the  green  sweet  grass  . 
the  Magi  then  chaunt  a  song  of  con- 
secration, standing  by  the  side  of  the 
one  who  makes  the  offering,  and  the 
latter  finally  takes  the  flesh  home,  to 
make  such  use  of  it  as  he  may  wish. 
.  .  .  .  The  Persians  believe  that  the 
gods  desire  only  the  soul  of  the  beasl 
as  a  sacrifice,  disdaining  the  flesh  ; 
hence  they  do  not  burn  the  flesh,  lest 
they  should  pollute  the  fire,  which  is 
sacred  to  the  gods :  nay,  even  one 
durst  not  even  blow  on  the  fire,  to 
quicken  it,  for  that  is  an  offense  that 
is  punished  with  death.  As  they  make 
offerings  to  fire,  so  too  do  they  to  wa- 
ter, betaking  themselves  to  some  lake, 
or  river,  or  fountain,  and  digging  a 
trench  in  the  vicinity,  lest  the  blood 
should  defile   the  water.     There   they 


FETICHISM. 


107 


slay  the  victim,  and  spread  the  pieces 
on  'sprigs  of  bay  or  myrtle  ;  the  magi, 
who  are  present,  make  libations  of  oil, 
milk  or  honey,  and  chaunt  a  sacred 
song;  and  the  sacrificant  takes  away 
the  flesh  of  the  victim."  This  con- 
ception of  sacrifice,  where  only  the  soul 
of  the  victim  is  accepted  by  the  gods, 
{gods  as  defined  by  Herodotus  him- 
self) shows  that  the  Persians  no  longer 
viewed  their  gods  from  the  gross  ma- 
terialistic point  of  view,  and  subordi- 
nated the  material  to  the  spiritual. 
Their  praying  for  all  Persians  and  not 
for  themselves  individually  is  evidence 
that  they  stood  high  above  the  egotism 
of  the  savage,  who  cares  only  for  him- 
self. 

As  objects  of  religious  contempla- 
tion, the  sky  is  regarded  as  the  Father, 
the  Earth  the  Mother  of  all  things  by 
the  Chinese,  the  religious  views  of 
the  masses  being  but  little  affected  by 
the  more  philosophical  and  abstract 
speculations  of  their  later  teachers.* 
Yang,  the  Sky,  is  procreative,  strong, 
masculine  ;  Yu,  the  Earth,  is  concep- 
tive,  weakly,  feminine. f  All  things 
are  the  products  of  these  two.  "  So 
soon  as  Yu  and  Yang  unite,  an  actual 
existence  results,  and  this  is  the  work 
of  Heaven  and  Earth."  %  That  this 
Sky-worship  is  most  intimately  con- 
nected with  Sun-worship,  nay,  even 
that  it  derives  its  origin  from  Sun- 
worship,  appears  to  be  beyond  ques- 
tion. The  V-King,  for  instance,  says 
that  Yang  makes  his  most  perfect  ap- 
parition in  the  Sun.§  The  movement 
of  Yang,  again  says  the  Y-King,  is  in 
a  circle,  being  accelerated  from  the 
beginning  of  spring  until  the  solstice, 
and  then  retarded.  He  consists  of 
an  extremely  subtle  matter,  invisible 
to  our  eyes,  but  yet  most  real,  and 
has  a  fixed  and  never  ceasing  circular 
motion ;    and    his    form    is   spherical. 


*  CJ.  Wuttke,  Gesch.  des  H.  Bd.  IT.  S.   i- 

208;  Bluntschli,  Altasiatische  Gottes-u. 
Weltideen  S.  135-164;  le  Chou-King  par 
Confucius,  trad,  par  P.  Gaubil,  revu  par  M. 
de  Guignes.     Par.  1770,  p.  8S-150. 

t  V-King,  ex  Interpr.  Regis.  Ed.  Mohl, 
1834,  I.  p.  165-169,  II.  p.  381. 

\Ib.  II.  547. 

§  /*.  II.  406. 


whereas  that  of  the  earth  is  angular, 
and  therefore  less  capable  of  motion.* 

In  the  Spring  and  Summer,  when 
the  quickening  power  of  the  heavens  is 
greatest,  Yang  bears  sway  ,  but  in  Au- 
tumn and  Winter,  when  the  quiescent 
earth  predominates,  Yu  assumes  rule. 
Yang  is  lord  of  the  day,  culminating 
at  noon,  and  then  gradually  yielding 
to  Yu,  who  rules  the  night. |  All 
these  functions  of  Yang  belong  more 
properly  to  the  Sun  than   to  the  Sky. 

•■Wherever,''  says  Wuttke,!  "in 
accordance  with  our  habits  of  thought, 
we  expect  to  find  mention  of  God  in 
Chinese  writings,  it  is  always  the  Sky 
that  we  find  named,  sometimes  Sky 
and  Earth,  but  more  commonly  the 
Sky  alone.  And  the  Sky  which  is 
meant  is  the  visible  heavens,  whose 
apparent  revolution  around  the  earth 
is  held  to  be  the  cause  of  all  life  and 
movement.  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars  are 
set  in  this  blue  Sky,  which  is  the  man- 
ifestation of  deity."  Uninfluenced  by 
the  nice  distinctions  which  the  philos- 
ophers of  China  have  made  as  to  the 
essence  of  the  Heavens  the  popular 
mind  takes  the  anthropopathic  view, 
which,  however,  as  was  to  have  been 
expected  of  a  people  so  advanced  in 
moral  culture  as  the  Chinese,  attrib- 
utes to  the  Sky  only  the  noblest  and 
sublimest  characteristics.  They  give 
to  the  Heavens  the  name  Shang-to, 
"  Sublime  Ruler,  Supreme  Lord."  § 
He  is  almighty  and  omnipresent.  His 
all-embracing  love  is  shown  in  the  say- 
ing :  "  The  Sublime  Ruler  of  the  Uni- 
verse is  to  be  feared  and  reverenced  : 
he  hates  none.  Who  durst  say  that 
He  hates  any  man?"||  His  justice 
is  not  to  be  bribed,  and  is  as  immuta- 
ble as  his  celestial  movement ;  great 
is  his  wrath  against  the  unjust ;  IF  from 

*  lb.  II.  385  seq. ;   I.  203. 

t  lb.  I.  196,  214;  Tschu-hi,  iibersetzt  von 
Neumann,  in  Illgen's  Zeitschr.  1S37,  Bd.  I. 
56,  74,  82. 

t  II.  S.  25. 

§  Chou-King,  p.  13,  Note  7  ;  V-King,  II.  p. 
216. 

||  Confucii  Chi-King,  s.  Liber  Carminum, 
ex  Lat.  P.  Lacharme  Interpr.  Ed.  Jul.  Mohl. 
Stuttg.  1S30,  II.  4.  8. 

IT  lb.  II.  4,8;  II.  5,  1. 


106 


I  I.IK   lll.s.M. 


his  omniscence  naught  is  hidden.* 
And  these  things  are  all  predii 
ol  th<-  blue  vault  above  oui  heads,  v^ 
■■  i  l  blue  Sky.  look  down  with  si  orn 
upon  the  proud,  and  have  pity  on  the 
unfortunate,"  is  a  Chinese  prayer.f 
The  Sky  so  considered  is  man's  moral 

itype,  which  he  must    reproduce 
in  Ids  own  life.     "  His  four  properties 

irth  the  ideal  of  a  prince  :    he  is 
that    he   encompasse 
things  :  so  mighty  that  he-  i 
things  :  so  orderly  that  he  adapt 
things  to  their   ends;    so    persistent 
that  he  never  stands  still,  never  ceases 
to  be.'"  %    The  Sky  is  the  supreme  lord. 
He  requires  of  man  perfect  righteous- 

and   sin'  Being    omni- 

scient he  knows  when  a  man  is  guilty 
of  sin.  His  wrath  is  enkindled 
against  all  injustice,  and  he  manifests 
it  on  occasion  by  celestial  phenom- 
ena and  by  the  convulsions  of  Nature, 
which  are  thus  brought  into  relations 
with  the  moral  life  of  man.  Eclipses 
of  Sun  and  Moon,  earthquakes,  thun- 
der and  lightning  and  the  other  grave 
phenomena  of  Nature  are  warnings 
sent  from  Heaven  to  man.-J  I 
fail  on  account  of  the  sins  of  the  peo- 
ple or  of  their  rulers.  "  When  virtue 
Teign-.    -  .  -  ECitse  in  the  12th  century 

"the  rain  falls  betimes;  when 
the  sovereign  rules  justly,  there  is 
fair  weather,  etc.;  when  sin  reigns, 
the  rain  falls  incessantly,  or  else  there 
is  a  drought,"  etc. ||  The  guilty  are 
oftentimes  punished  directly  by  the 
Heavens.  An  emperor  of  the  second 
dynasty  having  defiantly  shot  arrows 
at  the  sky,  and  erected  idols  was 
slain  by  the  lightning.11  For  the 
space  of  three  days  did  the  Heavens 
envelop  the  earth  in  dark  clouds,  be- 
another  emperor  had  committed 


*  1 1  G  la   <  'hinc.  trad.  <lu 

M ■  11  ]'.u  dc  M.iill.i,  publ. 
ji.ir  ( rrosi(  1.    Par.    17:7,  I.  p.  92,  111. 

f  Chi-King,  II.  5,6. 

}  Wuttke,  tl 

5j  Chou-King,  p.  1  v  99,  [42,  ifx>, 

}47;  (  hi-King,  p.  291,  II.  5,  6,S;  De  Mailla, 

<  h. m-King,  p.   1-:. 

•  De  Mailla,  I.  227. 


We  might  cite  a  multitude 
iilar  instances  ;  f  but  as  our  pur- 
pose hen-  is  only  to  define  the  position 
ot  China  with  regard  to  religious  de- 
velopment, we  refrain  from  any  fur- 
ther illustration  of  this  p 

However  just  the  claim   (tf   the   skv 

to  the  undivided  worship  of  man, 
and   howsoever  strictly  philosophico- 

religious  speculation  may  show  it  to 
be  the  one  obje< ;  that  deserves  to  be 
worshiped,  still  the  popular  mind  will 
not  renounce  its  own  nature  as  a  fe- 
cund principle,  and  so  it  fashions  lor 
itself  notions  of  spirits  and  gods  on 
purely  empiric  grounds.  Hence  in 
China,  besides  sky-worship  there  is  a 
complex  system  of  Spirit-worship  and 
polytheism.!  In  addition  to  the  An- 
cestral Spirits,  which  are  the  principal 
objects  of  veneration,  there  are  the 
Celestial  Spirits,  which  dwell  in  the 
heavenly  bodies,  in  the  Sun,  the 
Moon,  the  S:ars.  the  Earth  ;  on  moun- 
tains, in  rivers  ;  in  the  thunder  and 
in  the  winds.  There  are  the  guar- 
dian Spirits  of  families,  of  houses,  of 
communities,  of  cities,  of  provinces, 
of  agriculture,  etc.,  and  we  find  men- 
tion of  these  even  in  remote  times: 
yet  they  rank  so  far  beneath  the  Sky 
that  by  an  ancient  law  it  was  forbid- 
den to  make  offerings  to  them  such 
as  were  made  to  the  Sky,  and  it  was 
allowed  only  to  make  them  gifts  of 
food,  and  to  show  them  a  limited 
amount  of  reverence. § 

In  Africa,  too,  among  the  more  ad- 
vanced nations,  we  find  traces  of 
a  growing  Sun  and  Skv  worship.  In 
Dahomey,  a  country  ruled  with  bar- 
barous rigor,  but  yet  possessing  a 
well-organized  monarchical  govern- 
ment, the  Sun  is  held  to  be  the  high- 
est of  all  beings  but  yet  is  not  wor- 
shiped. ||  The  Duallas  call  the  Sun 
and  th<-  Great   Spirit  by  one  name/, 

*  Chou-King,  p.  91. 

t  Cf.  Wuttke.  II.  55  ff. 

i  //'.  11.  16  it. 

^  De  Mai     ,  Hisl     en.  I.  y. 
Omboni,  Viaggi  nell'  Africa  Occidentals. 
Milano,  1845,  p. 

•  Allen  and  Thomson,  Narr.  of  the  Exped. 
to   the    K.    Niger   in    1S41.      I. mid.    1x4s,    II. 

;  note. 


FETICHISM. 


105> 


In  Acra  Romer  discovered  a  sort  of  J 
worship  paid  to  the  Sun.*     The  Ne- 
groes  of    the    Gold   Coast,    at   least ! 
their    devotees    and   fetichmen,    call  | 
Njongmo  (the  Sky),   which  is  omni- 
present   and    ab    cevo,    the    Supreme 
God,  and  the  Maker  of  the  world.f 
"  You    may   every  day   see,"   said   a 
fetichman,  "how  the   rain   and  sun- 
shine sent  by  him  cause  the  grass  and 
grain    and  trees   to   grow :    he»  must 
therefore    be    the    Creator."     Every 
morning  they  go  clown  to  the  stream, 
wash   themselves,  dash  a  handful    of 
water   or   sand  on    their  heads,    and 
with  eyes  turned  to  the  sky,  utter  this 
prayer :  "  O   God,   give  me   this   day 
rice  and  yams,  gold  and  agries :  give 
me    slaves,    wealth    and    health,    and 
grant    that    I    be    quick    and    swift." 
The   same    belief,    substantially,   pre- 
vails in  Akwapim,  the  Supreme  Deity 
being  the  firmament,  and  the  Earth, 
the    Universal    Mother,    holding   the 
second  rank,  while  in  the  third  rank 
stands    Bosumbra,   the    head  Fetich. 
Before  embarking  in  any  new  enter- 
prise the  people  of  Akwapim  offer  a 
libation  to  these  three,  saying:  "Cre- 
ator,    come,     drink ;     Earth,     come, 
drink  ;  Bosumbra,  come,  drink."  X 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   AIM    OF    FETICHISM. 

Having  traced  the  development  of 
religious  ideas  from  their  earliest  ori- 
gin to  their  more  advanced  stages,  jve 
would  now  gather  the  results  of  our 
analyses  in  order  to  show  the  ulterior 
aim  to  which  the  system  is  directed. 

i.  Retrospect. 

The  understanding  has  cognizance 
only  of  its  own  conceptions,  and  these 
conceptions  are  its  objects.  Hence 
its  range  is  limited  to  the  conceptions 
and  objects  it  has,  and  hence  too  it 


*  Romer,  S.  84. 
t  Waitz,  II.  170. 
%  Ibidem. 


grows  as  the  number  of  its  objects  is 
increased.  If  we  would  appreciate  a 
man's  intellectual  status,  we  must 
know  what  are  his  conceptions,  his 
objects.  In  his  lowest  condition  man 
has  but  few  objects  :  but  as  these  are 
multiplied  the  more,  the  more  does  he 
advance  in  every  respect. 

It  is  a  law  of  our  mind  that  we 
shall  range  our  conceptions  in  the 
order  of  cause  and  effect.  But  we 
can  so  range  such  conceptions  as  we 
possess.  Cause,  as  being  the  efficient, 
the  productive  principle  we  can  con- 
ceive of  only  as  something  possessed 
of  power,  of  special  efficiency.  Ac- 
cordingly that  object  or  that  concep- 
tion will  pass  for  causal  and  efficient, 
which  appears  to  be  the  stronger,  the 
more  excellent.  We  have  seen  how, 
as  the  number  of  objects  was  greater 
or  less,  their  values  differed  propor- 
tionally, and  how  the  mind  with  few 
objects  must  set  as  high  a  value  on 
trifles  (as  viewed  from  a  higher  stand- 
point) as  a  superior  understanding 
sets  upon  its  more  important  objects  : 
for  a  relatively  trifling  object  as- 
sumes importance  when  its  surround- 
ings are  more  trifling  still  than  itself. 
Hence  we  have  seen  that  because  he 
has  but  few  objects,  and  a  very  nar- 
row world,  the  fetichist  takes  to  be 
causal  an  object  which  for  him  is  mo- 
mentous, though  insignificant  for  us. 
We  have  seen  that  as  he  increases  the 
number  of  his  conceptions,  the  num- 
ber of  assignable  causes  is  increased 
in  proportion  ;  and  then  we  consid- 
ered the  various  objects  regarded  as 
fetiches :  stocks,  stones,  mountains, 
plants,  etc.  All  these  lay  in  man's 
own  sphere,  and  he  was  attached  to 
them  by  bodily  interest.  A  new  and 
spiritual  interest  could  be  awakened 
only  by  an  entirely  new  object,  and 
this  he  found  in  the  heavenly  bodies, 
by  the  worship  of  which  man  stepped 
beyond  simply  material  interests  and 
entered  a  spiritual  sphere. 

In  proportion  as  the  spiritual  in- 
terest increases  the  more  is  the  will 
detached  from  the  simply  corporeal. 
Animal  passions  are  repressed  in  pro- 
portion as  objects  of  spiritual  interest 


no 


II    1  !•    III.vM. 


attract   the   will  to  themselves.     Bui 
in  order  to  devote  himself  to  spiritual 

» sts  ni.iii  h.ul  need  i if  repose, 
tranquility  and  bodilj  security.  The 
higher  this  spiritual  interest  rises,  the 
more  is  fierce  and  destructive  egotism 
repressed.  Life  is  more  tranquil, 
more  orderly.  Man  builds  up  com- 
monwealths,  and  his  thoughts  are 
now  no  longer  concerned  about  him- 
self alone,  but  about  the  common- 
wealth also.  But  in  proportion  as  he 
abandons  egotism,  the  more  docs  he 
acknowledge  moral  i  mtrol.  In  the 
higher  stages  of  the  worship  of 
heavenly  bodies  we  therefore  found 
a  high  degree  of  development,  not 
onl)  intellectually  but  also  morally. 
For  morality  being  will-stimulus,  or 
will-direction,  and  the  will  being  ele- 
vated only  by  gaining  higher  and 
/•wr  higher  objects,  therefore  morality 
is  elevated  in  proportion  to  the  ele- 
vation of  the  objects. 

2.  71u-  New  Problem. 

Sky-worship,  including  Star  and 
Sun-worship,  is  the  highest  grade  of 
fetichism,  not  only  because  its  objects 
arc  the  most  exalted,  but  also  because 
it  contains  the  nucleus  of  something 
altogether  new.  So  far,  man  has  been 
tracing  causes  from  object  to  object, 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  the  final  cause 
at  length  passed  from  earth  to  sky. 
But  even  there  his  final  cause  was 
found  to  belong  to  the  order  of  sensu- 
ous things.  His  eyes  discern  his  effi- 
cient causes;  he  sees  them  producing 
all  phenomena,  all  objects.  But  the 
law  of  the  mind  is  that  lie  shall  still 
h  tor  a  cause,  and  when  once  the 
mind  lias  begun  to  question,  it  will 
never  cease  to  question.  What  is  the 
\  ?  it  asks  :  and  the  answer 
i^.  B.  But  further  it  will  ask.  What 
then  of  B?  and  an  answer  it  must 
have.  Now  so  far  it  has  taken  the 
Stars,  the  Sun,  the  Sky  for  its  ulti- 
mate cause:  but  the  greater  man's 
reverence  for  this  <  ause,  and  the  more 
he  contemplates  it,  the  more  he  learns 
as  to  its  true  nature.  Soon  all  man- 
ner of  thoughts  will  spring  up,  and  he 


will  observe  contradictions  between 
its  actual,  empirical  phenomena  and 
his  own  conception  thereof,  and  of  the 

mode  in  which  it  must  operate.  1  low- 
is  this?  he  will  inquire.  And  when 
SUCh  and  such  efle<  ts  are  produced 
by  the  Sun,  the  question  will  come  up, 
Hut  what  produced  the  Sun  itself, 
with  its  phenomena?  And  in  fact 
wherever    this   worship   of   heavenly 

bodies    attains    its    highest    Stage,    as 

anion-  the  Mexicans,  Peruvians  and 
Persians,  this    question    did  actually 

arise.  The  Persians  not  alone  put 
this  question,  but  they  found  the  an- 
swer to  it,  and  the  result  was  a  new 
religion,  that  of  Zoroaster.  Hut  the 
Mexicans  and  the  Peruvians  had  their 
development  interrupted  by  the  fanat- 
icism of  a  Cortez  and  a  l'i/arro,  and 
hence  they  could  not  reach  a  solution 
of  the  problem,  though  it  was  explic- 
itly stated  by  some  eminent  minds 
among  them,  and  the  nation  was  in  a 
fair  way  soon  to  enter  on  a  new  relig- 
ious epoch. 

But  let  us  see  how  the  problem 
must  be  solved  by  a  people  in  their 
stage  of  development.  As  long  as 
the  objects  of  sense  afforded  the 
grounds  for  considering  them  as 
causes,  so  long  did  man  ascend  the 
series.  But  when  the  last  link  in  that 
chain  is  reached,  the  senses  fail  ; 
and  the  eye  cannot  penetrate  beyond 
the  blue  vault  of  the  heavens.  Hence 
when  he  comes  to  inquire  as  to  tin- 
cause  of  the  sky  itself,  he  cannot  as- 
sign any  sensible  object,  there  being 
none  that  is  greater  than  this.  If 
therefore  he  would  still  pursue  his 
search  after  a  cause,  he  must  needs 
go  beyond  the  domain  of  sense,  and 
assign  causes  not  apprehensible  to 
the  senses,  pretersensual  or  super- 
sensual.  But  now  he  could  not  as- 
sign anything  super-sensual  as  a  cause, 
if  he  had  no  conception  of  the  "  super- 
sensual."  Put  his  gods  and  spirits 
have  furnished  him  with  such  a  no- 
tion, and  he  has  often  held  them  to 
be  the  causes  of  sundry  phenomena 
in  the  world  of  sense.  All  his  con- 
ceptions are  empirical,  and  his  con- 
ception of  gods  also  had  an  empirical 


FETICHISM. 


lit 


origin.  It  is  not  our  business  here  to 
account  for  the  idea  of  gods  and 
spirits  :  it  suffices  if  we  know  that  it 
exists.  When  therefore  an  ultimate 
cause  is  to  be  assigned  for  the  ulti- 
mate of  sensible  causes,  it  will  be  a 
God.  But  just  as  when  he  looked  for 
the  ultimate  Cause  among  sensible  ob- 
jects, that  passed  for  ultimate  which 
was  unique,  supreme,  and  above  all 
things  else  in  power  and  dominion  : 
so  too  must  this  God  be  unique,  su- 
preme, exclusive.  Here  then  is  the 
point  where,  by  the  crossing  of  the 
two  series  of  conceptions  (referred 
to  already  at  p.  26) — viz.  :  on  the 
one  hand  sensible  objects,  and  on  the 
other  spirits  or  gods,  both  in  their 
highest  state  of  development  (Sun 
and  Sky-worship,  and  Polytheism) — 
Monotheism  is  evolved.  The  proofs 
of  this  proposition  are  not  in  place 
in  an  essay  on  fetichism  :  it  will  be 
sufficient  if  we  show  from  history 
that  the  questio?i  we  have  spoken  of 
does  actually  arise  where  man  has 
reached  the  highest  stage  of  fetichism, 
and  that  it  is  answered  precisely  as 
we  have  said. 

Of  the  famous  Inca,  Tupac  Jupan- 
qui,*  Garcilasso  states  that  "  he  was' 
wont  to  say  :  Many  hold  that  the  sun 
is  endowed  with  life,  and  that  he  is 
the  creator  of  all  things.  But  who- 
ever creates  a  thing  must  be  present 
when  he  creates  it :  but  now  sundry 
things  are  produced  in  the  absence  of 
the  Sun  :  therefore  the  Sun  is  not  the 
creator  of  all  things.  Furthermore, 
his  never  tiring  is  proof  that  he  is  not 
a  living  thing.  If  he  had  life,  he 
would  weary  even  as  we  :  and  were  he 
free,  he  would  visit  other  regions  of 
heaven  besides  those  in  which  his 
daily  course  now  lies.  He  is,  as  it 
were,  an  object  that  is  restricted  in  its 
movements,  and  which  ever  describes 
the  self-same  course  ;  or  like  the  arrow 
which  flies  in  the  direction  in  which 
it  is  shot,  and  which  cannot  choose 
its  own  course."  Another  Inca  was 
once,  upon  the  feast  of  Raymi.  at- 
tentively    contemplating      the      Sun 


*  Garcilasso,  VIII.  8. 


A  priest  having  twice  reminded  him 
that  the  reverence  clue  to  that  lumi- 
nary forbade  such  conduct,  the  mon- 
arch replied:  "I  will  put  you  two 
questions.  I  am  your  king  and  lord. 
Would  any  of  you  venture  to  order 
me  to  rise  from  my  throne  and 
set  out  on  a  long  journey  ?  And 
would  any  of  my  vassals  be  so  bold  as 
to  refuse  obedience,  were  I  to  com- 
mand him  forthwith  to  hasten  off 
to  Chile  ? "  The  priest  having  an- 
swered both  questions  in  the  nega- 
tive, the  monarch  thus  continued : 
"  My  word  for  it,  there  must  be  over 
the  Sun,  our  Father,  a  master  greater 
and  mightier  still,  who  requires  him 
to  perform  his  daily  course  :  for  were 
the  Sun  himself  the  Supreme  Lord, 
he  would  not  pursue  forever  the 
same  daily  path  :  he  would  rest  when 
it  pleased  him,  even  though  he  had 
no  need  of  rest.''* 

One  of  the  most  eminent  of  the 
Mexican  kings,  "  an  intellectual  hero 
of  the  New  World,"  was  Nezahual- 
coyotl. "  His  enlightened  mind,  and 
the  love  he  had  for  his  subjects,  largely 
contributed  to  make  his  court  famous, 
and  it  was  ever  after  regarded  as  the 
home  of  the  arts  and  the  center  of  re- 
fined culture.  At  Tezcuco,  his  capital, 
the  Mexican  language  was  spoken 
with  the  greatest  puritv  and  correct- 
ness ;  and  there  were  always  to  be 
found  the  best  artists,  and  a  vast  as- 
semblage of  poets,  orators  and  histo- 
rians. Not  alone  the  Mexicans  them- 
selves, but  many  other  nations  re- 
ceived laws  from  Tezcuco,  and  hence 
we  might  say  that  Nezahualcoyotl  was 
the  Solon,  and  his  capital  the  Athens 
of  Anahuac."t  Well-versed  in  the 
poetry  of  his  native  land,  the  king  was 
himself  a  poet  of  some  distinction,  and 
as  late  as  the  16th  century  sixty  hymns 
composed  bv  him  in  honor  of  the  Cre- 
ator of  the  heavens  were  held  in  high 
esteem  even  by  the  Spaniards.  "  But 
nothing  possessed  so  deep  an  interest 
for  Nezahualcoyotl  as  the  study  of 
Nature.     He  acquired  a  considerable 

*  Acosta,  Balboa,    59;    apud    Waitz,    IV. 
449. 

t  Clavigero,  I.  p.  175  seq. 


112 


II   in  HISM. 


amounl  of  astronomical  knowledge 
from  t In*  numerous  observations  «  hi<  li 
he  directed  to  be  made  ol  the  courses 
oi  the  stars.  He  also  devoted  much 
time  to  the  study  <>t  botany  and  zool- 
ind  those  spe(  imens  which,  ^ 
requiring  a  different  climate,  could 
not  live  at  thf  capital,  he  had  painted 
in  the  natural  size  on  the  walls  ol  his 
He  studied  attentively  the 
causes  of  the  phenomena  of  Nature,  ntul 
this  study  hit  him  to  recognize  the  worth- 
lessness  of  idolatry.  He  told  his 
sons,  in  confidence,  that  whilst  they 
paid  exterior  reverence  to  the  idols, 
in  deference  to  public  sentiment, 
they  should  in  their  hearts  abhor  this 
contemptible  worship  of  inanimate 
things.  As  for  himself,  he  acknowl- 
edged no  god  save  the  Creator  ol  the 
Heavens,  but  he  did  not  forbid  idola- 
try, much  as  he  wished  to  do  so,  lest 
any  man  should  charge  him  with  set- 
ting himself  in  opposition  to  the  teach- 
ings oi  his  forefathers.  He  prohibited 
human  sacrifices,  but  succeeded  only 
so  far  as  to  limit  them  to  the  offering 
of  prisoners  of  war."  *  To  his  "  Un- 
seen God,"  "  the  Unknown  God,  the 
Cause  of  Causes,7' f  he    dedicated  a 


*  Clavigero,  I.  p.  175  seq. 

t  "Al   Dios  no  conocido,  Causa   de   las 


of  nine  stoiies,  with  rool  painted 

blue,  and  studded  with  golden  sta 

At  stated  hours  certain  offi<  ials  ap- 
pointed tor  the  purpose  sum  k  a  son- 
orous metallic  plate  in  the  tower,  at 
which  signal  the  king  knelt  and  re- 
cited a  prayer.  From  the  ornamenta- 
tion of  this  tower,  as  well  as   from  his 

poems, t  it  is  plain  that,  as  Prescott 
says,  '"  he  (  ombined  star-worship  with 
wmship  of  the  Almighty  ;  "   or  rather, 

by  combining  star-worship  with  Poly- 
theism, In-  rea<  hed  Monotheism. 
This  is  clear  from  what  1  jtliljoi  bit] 
says  of  him,  viz.,  that  although  he 
"invoked  the  Almighty,  by  whose 
grace  we  live,  and  who  hath  in  him- 
self all  things,"  still  lie  also  -  acknowl- 
edged the  sun  to  be  his  father  and  the 
earth  his  mother."! 


Causas."     M.  S.  de  Ijtliljochitl  apud   Pres- 
cott, I.  155. 
* "  Su   Boveda  estaba   pintada  de    azul." 

I  I.e.  1  'ero,  I.  i-''. 

t  "  I. t-t  us  strive  heavenward,  for  there  all 
is  everlasting  and  incorruptible."  Aspin 
al  cieh),  que  alii  todo  es  eterno  v  nadasecor- 
rompe.  "The  horrors  of  the  grave  are  but 
the  Sun's  cradle  ;  and  the  sombre  shadows 
only  brilliant  lights  for  the  stars."'  El  horror 
del  sepulcro  es  lisongera  cufia  para  el,  y  las 
funestas  sombras  brillantes  luces  para  los  as- 
tros. 

\  Apud  Prescott,  I. 


THE 

Humboldt  Library  of  M$m 

is  the  only  publication  of  its  kind, —  the  only  one  containing  popular 
scientific  works  at  low  prices.  For  the  most  part  it  contains  only 
works  of  acknowledged  excellence,  by  authors  of  the  first  rank 
in  the  world  of  science.  Such  works  are  landmarks  destined  to 
stand  forever  in  the  history  of  Mind.  Here,  in  truth,  is  "  strong 
meat  for  them  that  are  of  full  age." 

In  this   series  are  well  represented  the  writings  of 

DARWIN,  HUXLEY,  SPENCER,  TYNDALL,  PROCTOR,  CLIFFORD, 

CLODD,  BAGEHOT,  BAIN,  BATES,  WALLACE,  TRENCH, 

ROMANES,  GRANT  ALLEN,  BALFOUR   STEWART, 

GEIKIE,  HINTON,  SULLY,  FLAMMARION, 

PICTON,  WILLIAMS,  WILSON, 

and   other   leaders   of   thought   in   out-  time.     As  well   might   one  be  a 

mummy  in  the  tomb  of  the  Pharaohs  as  pretend  to  live  the  life  of  the 

nineteenth  century  without  communion  of  thought  with-  these  its 

Master  Minds. 

Science  has  in  our  time  invaded  every  domain  of  thought  and  research, 
throwing  new  light  upon  the  problems  of 

PHILOSOPHY,  THEOLOGY,   MAN'S    HISTORY, 
GOVERNMENT,  SOCIETY,   MEDICINE. 

In  short,  producing  a  revolution  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  world. 
No  educated  person,  whatever  his  calling,  can  afford  to  keep  himself  out 
of  the  main  current  of  contemporary  scientific  research  and  exposition. 

The  price  of  the  several  numbers  is  fifteen  cents  each  (double 
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THE  HUMBOLDT  LIBRARY  is  published  semi-monthly, 
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scriptions can  commence  at  any  time  within  the  current  year. 

THE    HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING    CO. 

28   Lafayette   Place,  New  York. 


CATALOGUE 

or 

THE   riuMBOLBT  LlBR/H^Y 

OF 

Popular  Science. 

Containing  the  works  of  the  foremost  scientific  writers  of  the  age. —  The  Great 
Classics  of  Modern  Thought. — Strong  meat  for  them  that  are  of  full  age. 


Price,  Fifteen  Cents  per  number,  except  as  otherwise   noted  in  this   catalogue. 


LIGHT    SCIENCE    FOR    LEISURE    HOURS.-A  Series  of  Familiar 
Essays    on    Scientific    Subjects,    Natural    Phenomena,   <fec  —  By 

Eichard  A.  Proctor,  B.A.,  Camb.,  F.R.A.S..  author  of  "The  Sun,"  " Other 
Worlds  than  Ours,"  "Saturn,"  &c. 


Strange   Discoveries   respecting 

the  Aurora. 
The  Earth  a  Magnet. 
Our  Chief  Timepiece   losing 

Time. 
Encke  the  Astronomer. 
Venus  on  the  Sun's  Face. 
Re-cent  Solar  Researches. 
Government  Aid  to  Science. 
American  Alms   for  British 

Science. 
The  Secret  of  the  North  Pole. 
Is  the  Gulf  Stream  a  Myth? 
Floods  in  Switzerland. 


CONTENTS. 
The  Tunnel  through  Mont  Cenis. 
The    Greatest    Sea -Wave    ever 

known. 
The  Usefulness  of  Earthquakes. 
The  Earthquake  in  Peru. 
A  Great  Tidal  Wave. 
Deep-Sea    Dredgings. 
Tornadoes. 
Vesuvius. 

The  Forcing  Power  of  Rain. 
A  Shower  of   Snow-Crystals. 
Long   Shots. 
Influence   of   Marriage  on   the 

Death-Rate. 


The  Topographical  Survey  of 
India. 

A  Ship  Attacked  by  a  Sword- 
fish. 

The   Safety-Lamp. 

The  Dust  we  have  to  Breathe. 

Photographic  Ghosts. 

The   Oxford    and    Cambridge 
Rowing  Styles. 

Betting  on  Horse-Races ;    or, 
the  State  of  the  Odds. 

Squaring  the  Circle. 

The  New  Theorv  of  Achilles' 
Shield. 


No. 


THE   FORMS   OF  WATER   IN    CLOUDS  AND   RIVERS,  ICE  AND 

GLACIERS.— By  John  Tyndall,  LL.D.,  F.K.S.,  Professor  of  Natural  Philos- 
ophy iu  the  Royal  Institution,  London. —  With  nineteen  illustrations  drawn 
under  the  direction  of  the  author. 


Clouds.  Rains,  and  Rivers. 
The  Waves  of  Light. 
Oceanic  Distillation. 
Tropical  Rains. 
Architecture  of  Snow. 
Architecture  of  Lake  Ice. 
Ice  Pinnacles,  Towers,  and 
Chasms. 


CONTENTS. 

The  Motion  of  Glaciers. 
Likeness  of  Glacier  Motion  to 

River  Motion. 
Changes   of  Volume  of  Water 

by  Heat  and  Cold. 
The    Molecular   Mechanism   of 

Water-congelation. 
Sea  Ice  and  Icebergs. 


Ancient  Glaciers  of  Switzer- 
land. 

Ancient  Glaciers  of  England. 
Scotland. Wales. and  Ireland. 

The  Glacial   Epoch. 

Glacier  Theories. 

The  Blue  Veins  of  Glaciers. 

Crevasses. 


No.  3. 


PHYSICS    AND    POLITICS:    An   Application    of   the    Principles   of 
Natural  Selection  and  Heredity  to  Political  Society.- By  Walter 

Bagehot,  author  of  "-The  English  Constitution." 


Chapter     I.— The   Preliminarv  Age. 
Chapter    II.— The   Use   of  Conflict. 
•  'hripter  III.  — Nation-making. 
Chapter  IV.— Nation-making. 


C  O  X  T  E  N  T  S. 


Chapter    V. — The  Age  of  Discussion. 
Chapter  VI. — Verifiable  Progress  Politically  Con 
sidered. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


EVIDENCE    AS    TO    MAN'S    PLACE    IN    NATURE- »y  Thomas  H. 
i    B.8      I    L.8       With    Qumi 

'■  T  B  N  TS. 
Chapter  I  -  History  of  the  Manlike    I    Chapter    II  —  Th<»  Relation*  of  Man  to  tho  Lower 

I    Chapter  III.— Some  Fossil  KemaiiiK  of  ' 


EDUCATION:    INTELLECTUAL,    MORAL,    AND     PHYSICAL.- By 

HKRB  ^        '•'  1KB. 

CO  NT  i:  N  T  s. 
r. — Wh.it  Knowledge  Is  of  Most  Worth  1    I    Chapter  III.— Moral   Education. 
Chapter  IX. — Intellectual   Edaeation,  |    Chapter  IV.—  Physical  Edaeation. 


TOWN 


GEOLOGY.— By  the  Rev.  Charles  Kingsley,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,Canou  of 


<  Iheater. 


CONTENTS. 


L— The  Soil  of  tho  Field. 
Chapter   II.  — Tho  Pebbles  In  the  Street. 
Chapter  HL— The  Bton  WalL 


Chapter  IV—  The  Coal  in  the  Fire. 
Chapter    V. —  The  Lime  in  the  Mortar. 
Chapter  VI— The  .Slates  on  the  Roof. 


THE    CONSERVATION    OF    ENERGY.- By  Balfour  Stewart,  LL.D., 

F.K.S..  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  the  Owens  College,  Manchester,  Eng. 
Witli  an  Appendix — "The  Correlation  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Forces,"  by  Prof. 
Alexander  Bain. 


contents 


Chapter      I. — What   is   Energy  I 

■  t   II. — Mechanical  Energy  and  its  Change 

into  Seat. 
Chapter  III.— The  Forces  and  Energies  of  Nature: 

the  Law  of  Conservation. 
Chapter  IV.  — Transmutations  of  Energy. 


Chapter    V.— Historical  Sketch:   the  Dissipation 

of  Enerev. 
Chapter  VI.— The  Position  of  Life. 

Appendix.— The  Correlation  of    Nervous  and 
Mental  Forces. 


THE     STUDY    OF     LANGUAGES     BROUGHT     BACK     TO     ITS 

TRUE    PRINCIPLES.— By  <\  Marcel,  Knt.  Leg.  Hon..  author  of  "Language 
as  a  Means  of  Mental  Culture,"  &c. 


CONTENTS 

ter     L— Subdivision  and  Order  of  study. 
Chapter   EL— The  Art  of  Reading. 
Chapter  ILL— The  Art  of  Hearing. 
Chapter  IV.— The  Art  Speaking. 


Chapter  \'.— The  Art  of  Writing. 
Chapter  VI.— On  Mental  Culture. 
Chapter  VII. — On   Routine. 


DATA    OF    ETHICS.— By  Herbert  Spencbb. 


CO  N  T  EN  T  B. 


I  _  i  londncl   In  <  toneral. 
II.— Tho   Evolution  of  Conduct, 
[XL— Good   and   Bad  Conduct 
IV. —  Ways   '>f  Judging  I 
V\ —  The   Physical   View. 
VI. —  The    Biological   View, 
er    VTL — The   Psychological   View, 
i        u  t  vill  —  Thi    Sociological  View. 


« 

Chapter 


Chapter  IX- 
Chapter  X.- 
Chapter  XL- 
er  XII.- 
Chapter  XIII- 
Chapter  XIV  - 
Chapter  XV.- 
Chapter  XVI.- 


-mi<  and   Explanations. 
-Tho  Relativity  of  Pains  and  Pleas- 
-Egoism   oertus  Altruism,      lures. 
-  Altruism  versus  Egoism. 
-Trial  and  Compromise. 
•  <  Sonciliation. 

■  Absolute  Ethics  and  Relative  Eth- 

■  The  Scope  of  Ethics.  lies. 


Published    semi-monthly.— $3   a  year.— Single     numbers.  15   cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  10. 

THE   THEORY  OF  SOUND   IN    ITS    RELATION  TO   MUSIC.-By 

Professor  Pietro  Blaserxa,  of  the  Royal  University  of  Rome.— With  numerous 
woodcuts. 


C  0  N  TEXT  S. 


Chapter  I. —  Periodic  Movements:  Vibration. — 
S,onorous  Vibration. — Vibration  of  a  Bell. — Vibra- 
tion of  a  Tuning-fork. — Vibration  of  a  String. — Of 
Plates  and  Membranes. —  Vibration  of  Air  in  a 
Sounding -pipe.  —  Method  of  the  Monometrie 
Flame. —  Conclusion. 

Chapter  II. — Transmission  of  Sound. — Propaga- 
tion in  Air. —  In  Water  and  Other  Bodies. —  \e- 
locity  of  Sound  in  Air.-  In  Water  and  Other  Bodies. 
Reflection  of  Sound. —  Echo. 

Chapter  III. — Characteristics  of  Sound,  and  Dif- 
ference between  Musical  Sound  and  Noise. — Loud- 
ness of  Sound,  and  the  Various  Causes  on  which 
it  depends. —  Principle  of  the  Superposition  of 
Sounds. —  Sounding-boards  and  Resonators. 

Chapter  IV. —  Measure  of  the  Number  of  Vibra- 
tions.— Pitch  of  Sounds:  Limit  of  Audible  Sounds, 
of  Musical  Sounds,  and  of  the  Human  Voice. — 
The  "Normal  Pitch." — Laws  of  the  Vibrations  of 
a  String,  and  of  Harmonics. 

Chapter  V. —  Musical  Sounds. —  Law  of  Simple 
Ratio. —  Unison:  interference. —  Beats:  their  ex- 
planation.—  Resultant  Notes. — Octaves,  and  other 
Harmonics. — Consonant  Chords  and  their  limits. 
—  The  Major  fifth,  fourth,  sixth,  and  third:  the 
Minor  third  and  sixth. — The  Seventh  Harmonic. 


Chapter  VI.— Helmholtz's  Double  Siren. — Appli- 
cation of  the  Law  of  Simple  Ratio  to  three  or 
more  notes.— Perfect  Major  and  Minor  Chords: 
their  nature. —  Their  inversion. 

Chapter  VII.— Discords.— The  Nature  of  Music 
and  Musical  Scales.  —  Ancient  Music  — Greek 
Scale. — Scale  of  Pythagoras. — Its  decay. — Ambro- 
sian  and  Gregorian  Chants. —  Polyphonic  Music: 
Harmony — The  Protestant  Reformation.— Pales- 
trina. —  Change  of  the  Musical  Scale. —  The  Tonic 
or  Fundamental  Chord. —  The  Major  Scale.—  Mu- 
sical Intervals.— The  Minor  Scale. —Key  and  Trans- 
position.—  Sharps  and  Flats. —  The  '  Temperate 
Scale:  its  inaccuracy. —  The  Desirability  of  aban- 
doning it. 

Chapter  VIII.—  Quality  or  timbre  of  Musical 
Sounds. —  Forms  assumed  by  the  Vibrations. — 
Laws  of  Harmonies. —  Quality  or  timbre  of  Strings 
and  of  Instruments. —  General  Laws  of  Chords. — 
Noises  accompanying  Musical  Sounds. —  Quality 
or  timbre  of  Vocal  Musical  Sounds. 

Chapter  FX. —  Difference  between  Science  and 
Art. —  Italian  and  German  Music. —  Separation  of 
the  two  Schools. — Influence  of  Paris. — Conclusion. 


Nos.  11  and  12. 


Double  number.  30  cents. 


THE  NATURALIST  ON  THE  RIVER  AMAZONS.-A  Record  of 
Adventures,  Habits  of  Animals,  Sketches  of  Brazilian  and 
Indian    Life,  and   Aspects  of  Nature  under  the   Equator,  during 

eleven    years    of    travel. —  By   Henry  Walter    Bates,  F.L.S.,  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the   Royal   Geographical   Society  of  England. 


CONTEXTS. 


(In 

Chapter  I.  —  Arrival  at  Para — Aspect  of  the 
country — First  walk  in  the  suburbs  of  Para — Birds, 
lizards,  and  insects — Leaf-carrying  ant — Sketch  of 
the  climate. hist ory. and  present  condition  of  Para. 

Chapter  n. — The  swampy  forest  of  Para — A  Por- 
tuguese landed  proprietor  —  Life  of  a  Naturalist 
under  the  Equator — The  dryer  virgin  forests — Re- 
tired creeks — Aborigines. 

Chapter  HI. — The  Tocautins  River  and  Cameta 
— Sketeh  of  the  River — Grove  of  fan-leaved  palms 
— Native  life  on  the  Tocantins. 

Chapter  V. —  Caripi  and  the  Bay  of  Maraj6 — 
Negro  observance  of  Christmas — A  German  family 
—  Bats  — Ant-eaters  —  Hummingbirds  —  Domestic 
life  of  the  inhabitants  —  Hunting  excursion  with 
Indians — White  ants. 

Chapter  VI. —  The  Lower  Amazons  —  Modes  of 
traveling  on  the  Amazons — Historical  sketeh  of  the 
early  explorations  of  the  river — First  sight  of  the 
great  river — Flat-topped  mountains. 

Chapter  VII. — Ville  Nova,  its  inhabitants. forest, 
and  animals — A  rustic  festival — River  Madeira. — 
Mura  Indians — Yellow  Fever. 

Chapter  VIII. — Santarem — Manners  and  customs 


part.) 

of  the  inhabitants — Sketches  of  Natural  History- 
palms,  wildfruit-trees,  mining- wasps,  mason- wasps, 
bees. and  sloths. 

Chapter  FX. — Voyage  up  the  Tapajos— Modes  of 
obtaining  fish — White  Cebus.and  habits  and  dispo- 
sitions of  Cebi  monkeys — Adventure  with  anaconda 

—  Smoke-dried  monkey  —  Boa-constrictor  —  Hya- 
cinthine  macaw — Descent  of  river  to  Santarem." 

Chapter  X. — The  Upper  Amazons — Desolate  ap- 
pearance of  river  in  the  flood  season — Mental  con- 
dition of  Indians  —  Floating  pumice-stones  from 
the  Andes — Falling  banks — Ega  and  its  inhabitants 
— The  four  seasons  of  the  Upper  Amazons. 

Chapter  XI. — Excursions  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Ega — Character  and  customs  of  the  Passe  Indians 
— Hunting  rambles  with  natives  in  the  forest. 

Chapter  XII. —  Animals  of  the  neighborhood  of 
Ega-Searlet-faeed  monkeys-Owlfaced  night-apes 

—  Marmosets —  Bats —  Birds — Insects — Pendulous 
cocoons — Foraging  ants — Blind  ants. 

Chapter  XIII.— Excursions  beyond  Ega — Steam- 
boat traveling  on  the  Amazons — Various  tribes  of 
Indians — Descent  to  Para — Great  changes  at  Para 
— Departure  for  England. 


^%  This  is  one  of  the  most  charming  books  of  travel  ever  written,  and  is  both  interesting  and  in- 
structive. It  is  a  graphic  description  of  "a  country  of  perpetual  summer. — where  trees  yield  flower  and 
fruit  all  the  year  round," — "a  region  where  the  animals  and  plants  have  been  fashioned  in  Nature's 
choicest  moulds." 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


-. 

MIND    AND    BODY:  The  Theories  of  their   Relation.     BjAuoakdbb 
Bain,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Logic  in  the  University  of  Aberdeen. 


0  0 NT  E  N  TS. 


Chapter     L— Question  SI 

r   Q.— Connection  of  Mind  and  Body. 
Ill  —The  Connection  Viewed  as.  Oorre- 
'  oncomltant  Variation. 


chapter  [V.— Oenenl  Law*  <>f  Allian t  Mind 

and  Body.— The  Reeling!  and  the  V 
Chapter     V.— The  [ntellect 
Chapter   VL— How  are  Mind  and  Body  m 
Chapter  VII  —  Hiatorj  of  1 


THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  HEAVENS.- ''-y  Camillb  Flammabion.- 
Translated  from  the  Prenoh  by  Mrs.  Norman  I .<  ><-Kvr.n. —  With  thirty-two 
A.ol  inoglypb   [Uustrations. 

CO  NT  B  N  T  >. 


BOOK    FIRST. 
Chapter    I.— Night 

r  [I.— The  Heavens. 
Chapter  in.— Infinite  B]  [verse. 

•■ill  Arrangement  of  the  I'ni- 
.  t    V.— Clusters  and  Nebulas. 
Chapter  VI.— The  Milky  Way. 

BOOK    SECOND. 
chapter     I.— The  Bldereal  World. 
Chapter    II.— The  Northern  Constellations. 
Chapter  III.— The  Zodiac. 

ter  IV.—  Southern   Constellations. 
!•    V.— The  Number  of  the  Stars.— 

hist: 

ter  VL— Variable  Stars.— Temporary  Stars. 
Stars  suddenly  visible  or  Lnvisd 

ter  VTI.— Distant  Universes.— Double,  Mul- 
tiple, and  Colored  Suns. 

BOOK   THIRD. 
I.— The  Planetary  Svstem. 
II.— The   Sun. 


Chapter     III.  —  Tie     5 
<  Ihapter     IV. —  Mercury. 

V. —  Venus. 
Chapter     VI.—  M 
Chapter    Vli. — lupiter. 
Chapter  VIII. —  Saturn. 
Chapter     IX. —  Uranus. 
Chapter       X. —  Neptune. 
Chapter     XI — O01 
Chapter    XII. —  Comets 

BOOK    FOURTH. 
Chapter     I.— The  Terrestrial  I 
Chapter    II. —  Proofs  that  the  Earth  is  round. — 

That   it  turns  on  an  axis,  and  revolves  round 

the  Sun. 
Chapter  III.— The  Moon. 
Chapter  IV. — The  Moon  (continued). 
Chapter    V.— Eclipses. 

BOOK    FIFTH. 
Chapter    I.— The  Plurality  of  Inhabited  V 
chapter  II— The  Contemplation  of  the  H 


S 


LONGEVITY:    THE     MEANS    OF    PROLONGING    LIFE    AFTER 
MIDDLE    AGE.— fiy  JoHN  Gardner,  M-D. 


What  i-  the  Natural  Duration  of  Human  Life  I 

Duration  of  Life  in  any  degree  within  our 

pi  'V, 

ral    Considerations    respecting  Ad- 
I  Age. 

,1th. 
ble  ' 
Physiology  of  Advanced  \:_'e. 
Heredity. 
The   Means  of  Ameliorating  and  Retarding  the 

Age 
Recuperative  Power.— What  is  Life? 
Water:  its  bearing  on  Health  and  Disease. 

Stimulants  — Spirituous    and    Malt    Liquors 
Wine. 

Its  Effects  on  Longevity. 

itions    from    Health    In    Aged 

Persona— (a).  Faulty  Nutrition— General  At- 

1 .       '  Failure  of  Nutrition.— 

Puin  -  of  Narcotics.—  (a). 

Dolor-Senills.— (6).   Narcotics.— (0).  Sai 
rilla  and  other  ft  medial  Agi 
«iout—  Ni  es  for. 

Rheumatism. —  Lum 
Limit  ' 

D       •  ion. 
ver. 


r.  N  t  s. 

The  Kidneys  and  Urine.— Simple  Overflow.— Al- 
buminous Urine. —  Bright's  Disease.-  -Muddy 
Urine,  Gravel  stone. —  Irritable  Bladder. — 
1  liabetes. 

The  Lower  Bowels. 

The  Throat. — Air-passages. — Lungs. — Bronc 
The  Heart 

The  Brain— Mind,  Motive  Power,  Sleep,  Paralysis. 
Established  Pacts  respecting  Loi  . 

Fatal  after  sixty. 
Summary.— An  Experiment  Proposed. 
Appendix. —  Causes  of  Premature  Death. 

Lateral  Tonics. — 11).  Loi  _• 

of  the  Patriarchs  and  in  Ancient  Times.—  (6). 

Plourens  on  Longevity. —  (c).  Popular  Errors 

:  Longevity. —  (d).  Wast.-  of  Human 

Life.—  (<  I.    Mural    ai  d  eta  of 

Longevity. — (/).  Importan< t  Early  Treat 

meni  of  Disorders.— to).  The  Bones  of  Old 
People  Brittle. —  (A).  Condition  of  very  Old 
People.— (i).  One  Hundred  and  Fit 

treme  Limit  of  Human  Life. —  (j).  A  Case 

of  Recuperation. —  (*).  « >n  the  Water  used  in 

Country  Towns.— (I).  Pure  Aerated  Water.— 

—  (m).  Anticipations. —  (n.)   Adulteration  of 

Po<  d    &i  Bffi    :•   '"    Human   I  .it.-.  —  (o). 

Life.—  (p).    Appli: 

\_-ed  Persons  for  Immediate  Kelief 

Suffering. 


Published    semi-monthly.—  $3  a  year.— Single    numbers.  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  16. 


ON  THE   ORIGIN   OF  SPECIES;  or, The  Causes  of  the  Phenomena 

of  Organic  Nature. —  -A-  Course  of  Six  Lectures. — By  Thomas  H.  Huxley, 
F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  Jermyn  Street  School  of 
Mines,  London. 


CONT 

Chapter  I.  — The  Present  Condition  of  Organic 
Mature.  [tnre. 

Chapter    II.— The  Past  Condition  of  Organic  Na- 

Chapter  III.— The  Method  by  which  the  Causes  of 
the  Present  and  Past  Conditions  of  Organic 
Nature  are  to  be  discovered.— The  Origination 
of  Living  Beings. 

Chapter  IV.— The  Perpetuation  of  Living  Beings. 
Hereditary  Transmission  and  Variation. 


E  N  T  S. 

Chapter  V. —  The  Conditions  of  Existence  as  af- 
fecting the  Perpetuation  of  Living  Beings. 

Chapter  VI. —  A  Critical  Examination  of  the  Po- 
sition of  Mr.  Darwin's  work  on  "The  Origin 
of  Species."  in  relation  to  the  Complete  The- 
ory of  the  Causes  of  the  Phenomena  of  Organic 
Nature. 

Appendix. —  Criticisms  on  Darwin's  "Origin  of 
Species." 


No.  17. 

PROGRESS:  ITS  LAW  AND  CAUSE- With  other  Disquisitions,  viz., 
The  Physiology  of  Laughter. —  Origin  and  Function  of  Music. —  The  Social 
Organism. —  Use  and  Beauty. — The  Use  of  Anthropomorphism. — By  Herbert 
Spencer. 

No.  18. 

LESSONS  IN  ELECTRICITY.  To  which  is  added  an  Elementary 
Lecture  on  Magnetism.— By  John  Tyndall,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain.— With 
Sixtv  Illustrations. 


CONTEXTS. 


Introduction. 

Historic  Notes. 

The  Art   of  Experiment. 

Electric  Attractions. 

Discovery  of  Conduction  and  Insulation. 

The  Electroscope. 

Electrics  and  Non-Electrics. 

Electric  Repulsions. 

Fundamental  Law  of  Electric  Action. 

Double  or  "Polar"  Character  of    the   Electric 

Force. 
■What  is  Electricity  ? 
Electric  Induction. 
The  Electrophorus. 
Action  of  Points  and  Flames. 


The   Electrical   Machine. 
The  Leyden  Jar. 
Franklin's   Cascade   Battery. 
Leyden  Jars  of  the  Simplest  Form. 
Ignition   by  the   Electric   Spark. 
Duration   of  the  Electric  Spark. 
Electric   Light  in  Vacuo. 
Lichtenberg's  Figures. 
Sui-face   Compared  with  Mass. 
Physiological  Effects  of  the  Electrical  Discharge. 
Atmospheric   Electricity. 
The  Returning  Stroke. 
The  Leyden   Battery. 
Appendix.  —  An  Elementary  Lecture  on  Mag- 
netism. 


No.  19. 

FAMILIAR    ESSAYS    ON    SCIENTIFIC    SUBJECTS,  viz.,  Oxygen  in 

the  Sun. —  Sun-spot,  Storm,  and  Famine.— New  Ways  of  Measuring  the  Sun's 
Distance. — Drifting  Light-waves. — The  New  Star  which  faded  into  Star-mist. — 
Star-grouping,  Star-drift,  and  Star-mist. — By  RICHARD  A.  Proctor. 

No.  20. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  ASTRONOMY.-By  R.  Kalley  Miller,  M.A.,  Fel- 
low and  Assistant  Tutor  of  St.  Peter's  College,  Cambridge,  England.  — With  an 
Appendix  by  Richard  A.  Proctor. 


The  Planets. 
Astrology. 
The  Moon. 
The   Sun. 


CONTENTS. 

The  Comets. 

Laplace's  Nebular  Hypothesis. 

The   Stars. 

The  Nebulae. 


The  Past   History  of  our  Moon. 
Ancient  Babylonian  Astrogony. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


I 

ON    THE    PHYSICAL    BASIS    OF    LIFE. 
The  Scientific  Aspects  of   Positivism, 
logical    Contemporaneity.     A    Liberal 
11 1- xi  i  j .   P.B.8.,   F.L.8. 


With   Other   Essays,  viz., 

A  Piece  of  Chalk.    Geo- 

Education.— '•>•  Thom       h. 


SEEING    AND    THINKING.-  By  William  Kingdom  Cuttord,  F.R.8.,  Pro- 
lessor  of  Applied  Mathematics  and  Ifeehaniea  in  University  College,  London, 

if  Trinity  Co  ■  g»  .  Cambridge. 


CONTENTS. 


Bye  aixl  the   Brain. 
The  Eye  and  Seeing. 


The  Brain  and  Thinking. 
Of  Boundaries  in   « I 


■ 

SCIENTIFIC  SOPHISMS.  A  Review  of  Current  Theories  con- 
cerning Atoms,  Apes,  and  Men.—  By  Samuel  Wainwright,  D.D. 
author   of  "Christian   Certainty,"  "The   Modem    Avernus,"  &c. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter      I.— The  Right  of  Search. 

Chapter  II. —  Evolution. 

pter  III.— "A  Puerile  Hypothesis." 

r  [V.— "  Scientific  Levity." 

Chapter  V. —  A  House  of  Cards. 

Chapter  VI. —  Sophisms. 

.       •  r  VII.— Protoplasm. 


Chapter  VIII.— The  Three  Beginnings. 
Chapter     IX.— The  Three  Bar 
Chapter      X. —  Atoms. 
Chapter     XI. —  Apes. 
Chapter   XII—  Men. 
Chapter  XIII. —  Animi  Mundi. 


No.  24. 

POPULAR  SCIENTIFIC  LECTURES,  viz.,  On  the  Relation  of  Optics 
to  Painting.— On  the  Origin  of  the  Planetary  System.— On 
Thought  in  Medicine.— On  Academic  Freedom  in  German  Uni- 
versities.-By  H.  Helmholtz,  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of 
Berlin. 

No.  25. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  NATIONS.- In  two  parts.-On  Early  Civiliza- 
tions.— On  Ethnic  Affinities,  Ac— By  George  Rawltnson,  ma.. 
Camden    Professor   of   Ancient    History,  Oxford. 


0  i  >  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


PART    I— EARLY    CIVILIZATION'S. 

■  r        I. —  Introduction. 

•  r       II. — <  »n  the  Antiquity  of  Civilization 

in   Egypt. 
Chapter     III—  On  the  Antiquity  of  Civilisation 
:.t    Babylon. 

•  r     IV.  —  <  m    the    Date  ;in<l  Character  of 

■•inn  Civilisation. 

■  r       V. —  On  the  Civilizations  of  Asia  Minor 

—  Phryiria.  I.yilia.  Lycin.  Troas. 

ter     VI. — On  the*  imlizations  of  <  ientra]  Asia 

—Assyria,  Media  Persia,  India. 

•  r   vii  — Onthe&vilizationoftheEtruscans 
Chapter  VJJL — On  the  Civilization  of  the  British 

■  r     IX.— Results  of  the  Inquiry. 


PART  II.— Ethnic  Affinities  in  the 
Ancient  World. 

Chapter      I.— The  Chief  Japhetic  Races. 
Chapter     II. —  Subdivisions  of  the  Japhei  ic  Races, 

and  Javan. 
Chapter   III.— The  Chief  Hamitic  Races. 
Chapter   IV. —  Subdivisions  of  Cash. 
Chapter     V. —  Subdivisions  of  Mizraim  and 

Canaan. 
Chapter    VI.  — The   Semitic   Races. 
<  Ihapter  VII.  — On  the  Subdivisions  ol  the  Semitic 

Races. 


Published    semi-monthly.^  $3  a  year.— Single    numbers,  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  26. 


THE    EVOLUTIONIST    AT    LARGE- By  Grant  Allen. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter 

I. 

—  Microscopic  Brains. 

Chapter 

xn. 

Chapter 

11. 

—  A  Wayside   Berrv. 

Chapter 

XIII. 

Chapter 

111. 

—  In  Summer  Fields. 

i  !hapter 

XIV. 

Chapter 

IV. 

—  A  Sprig  of  Water  Crowfoot. 

( ihapter 

XV. 

Chapter 

V. 

—  Sings  and  Snails. 

Chapter 

XVI. 

Chapter 

VI. 

—  A  Study  of  Bones. 

Chapter 

xvn. 

Chapter 

VII. 

—  Blue  Mud. 

Chapter 

XVIII. 

Chapter 

Vlll. 

—  Cuckoo-pint. 

Chapter 

XIX. 

Chapter 

IX 

—  Berries   and   Berries. 

Chapter 

XX. 

Chapter 

X. 

—  Distant    Relations. 

Chapter 

XXI. 

Chapter 

XL 

—  Among  the  Heather. 

Chapter 

xxn. 

-Speckled  Trout. 
-Dodder  and   Broomrape. 
-Dog's   Mercury   and   Plantain. 

-  Butternv  Psychology. 

-  Butterfly  Esthetics." 
-The   Origin   of  Walnuts. 
-A  Pretty  Land-shell. 
-Dogs   and   Masters. 

-  Blackcock. 

-  Bindweed. 

-On  Cornish  Cliffs. 


No.  27. 

THE     HISTORY    OF 

Fisher.   F.R.H.S. 


LANDHOLDING     IN     ENGLAND.- By  Joseph 


I. —  The   Aborigines. 
II. —  The    Romans. 
Til.  —  The    Scandinavians. 


CONTENTS. 

IV. —  The  Normans. 
V. — The  Plantagenets. 
VI.— The   Tudors. 


VII.—  The   Stuarts. 
VIII. —  The  House  of   Hanover. 


No.  2.5. 

FASHION  IN  DEFORMITY,  AS  ILLUSTRATED  IN  THE  CUS- 
TOMS   OF  BARBAROUS  AND   CIVILIZED    RACES -By  William 

Henry  Flower,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.C.S.,  P.Z.S.,  &c,  Hunterian  Professor  of 
Comparative  Anatomy,  and  Conservator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  of  England. — With  illustrations. 

TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 

MANNERS    AND     FASH  ION- By  Herbert   Spencer. 

No.  29. 

FACTS  AND  FICTIONS  OF  ZOOLOGY.-By  Andrew  Wilson,  Ph.D., 
F.R.P.S.E..  &c,  Lecturer  on  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Medical  School;  Lecturer  on  Physiology,  Watt  Institution  and  School 
of  Arts,  Edinburgh,  &c. — "With  numerous   illustrations. 


CONTENTS. 


Zoological  Myths. 

The  Sea-serpents  of  Science. 

Some  Animal  Architects. 


Parasites   and   their  Deyelopment. 
What   !•  Saw  in   an   Ant's   Nest. 


No.  30.  and  No.  31.  [15   cents   each   number. 

ON     THE     STUDY     OF    WORDS.— By  Richard  Chenevix  Trench.  D.D.. 
Archbishop  of   Dublin. 


Lecture     I. —  Introductory  Lecture. 
Lecture   n. —  On   the   Poetry  in  Words. 
Lecture  IH. —  On   the    Morality  in    Words. 
Lecture  FV. —  On  the   History  in  Words, 


CONTENTS. 

Lecture      V. — On  the  Rise  of  New  Words. 
Lecture    VT. —  On  the  Distinction  of  Words. 
Lecture  VII. —  The  Schoolmaster's  Use  of  Words. 


No.  32. 

HEREDITARY    TRAITS,    AND     OTHER     ESSAYS -By  Richard  a. 

Proctor,  B.A.,  F.R.A.S.,  author  of  "The   Sun."  "Other  Worlds  than  Ours," 
"Saturn."  &c. 


I.— Hereditary  Traits. 
n.  —  Artificial   Somnambulism. 


CONTENTS. 

ni. — Bodily  Illness  as  a  Mental  Stimulant. 
IV.  —  Dual "  Consciousness. 


THE   HUMBOLDT   PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


VIGNETTES    FROM     NATURE.     By  Grant  Allen,  author  of  "The  Evolu. 


La 


.  ud   \V Ibrush. 

III      Red  Campion   »n<l   Wiiit<>. 

I\'        Butterfly-Hunting    Begin! 

Red  Campl 
vi      The   Hedgehog!   Bole. 

tie. 

VIII       \   Big  Fossil   Bone. 
\l       I'll.-  Heron's   Haont 


CO  N  T  i;  N  T8. 

Ml .-   \   Bed  of  Nettles. 

\in.     I. 'atrife  nnd   Pimpernel. 

XIV.— The  Carp 
\v       \  Welsh   Roadside. 
\\l      Seaside   W 

XVII a  Mountain  Tarn. 

Will.—  Wild  Thyme. 
XIX.— Tin'  Donkey*!  Ancestors. 
XX.—  Beside  the  Cromlech, 
x\i  -The  Kail  of  the  Leaf. 
XXII  -  The   Fall   of   ti,,-   Y.-ar. 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   STYLE.— By  Herbert  Spencer,  author  of  "] 
Principles  of  Philosophy,"  "Social  Statics,"  "Elements  of  Psychology,"  "E 
ta  of  Biology,"  "  Education,"  &e. 

CONT  E  N  TS. 

I. —  Causes  of  Force  in  Language   which  depend  upon   Economy  of  Hu    M 

i'.ni  rgit  8. 


I. — The    Principle   of   Economy   applied    to 

Words. 
II. — The   Effect   of   Figurative  Language  Ex- 

plained. 


UL— Arrangement  of  Minor  Images  in  Build- 

in<_'  up  a  Thought. 
I\'. —  The     Superiority    of    Poetry    to    Prose 

Explained. 


Part  II. —  Causes  of  Force  in   Language  which  depend  11,11m   Economy  of  the    '•/ 

8(  risibilities. 

TO   WHICH    IS    ADDED 

THE    MOTHER    TONGUE.- By  Alexander  Bain,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Logic 
in  the  Universil y  of  Aberdeen. 


Co  XT  1:  N  T  B. 


Conditions   of   Language  Acquisition  Generallv. 
The  Mother  Tongue. 
Teaching  Grammar. 


T!ic  Ak>'  for  Commencing  Grammar. 
The   Higher  Composition. 
English   Literature. 


ORIENTAL    RELIGIONS.— By  John  Caird,  S.T.D.,  President  of  the  Univer. 
Bity  of  Glasgow,  and  other  authors. 


India.  <     ' 


CON  T  i;  X  T 
—  Brahmanism. 

Buddhism. 
By  John  Caied  8.T.D 


Religion  of  China.  —  Confucianism. 

By  Kc\ .  GBOBOI   Mat  - 
Religion  of  Persia.— Zoroaster  and    the  Zend 
Avesta.  By  Rev.  Johs   Milne.  M.a 


LECTURES    ON    EVOLUTION.- With  an  Appendix   on  The    Study 
of   Biology.     By  Thomas  II.  Huxley. 


c  o  x-  T  e  x  T  s. 


I. — THBXI    LXOTUBia    "N    BV0LTJT10». 

Lecture    I.  —  The   Three    Hypotheses    respecting 

History  "t    Nature. 
Lecture  IL— The  Hypothesis  of  Evolution. — The 
Neutral  and  the   Favorable   Bvidei 


•    III.  — The   Demonstrative    Evidence  of 
Evolution. 


II.— a  Lecture  ox  the  Studs  of  Biologi 


SIX    LECTURES 


ON     LIGHT.— By  Prof.  John-  Tyxdall.  F.R.S. 


I    -Introductoi 
L  n. — Origin  of  Physical  Theories. 

EEL— Relation  "t  Ti rlea  i<>  Experience. 

Lecture  IV. —  Chromatic  Phenomena  produced  by 
1  Irystals  on  Polarized  Light. 


I fcure 


Range   of  Vision    Incommensurate 
with  Range  of  Radiation. 
b  VI. — Principles   of    Spectrum    Analysis. 
—  Solar  Chemistry. —  Summary 
and  Conclusions. 


Published    semi-montlily.—  $3  a  year.— Single    numbers,  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  38  and  No.  39.  [15   cents  each   number. 

GEOLOGICAL    SKETCHES    AT    HOME   AND   ABROAD -By  arch- 

ibald   Geikie.  LL.]>..  F.R.S.,  Director-General  of  the  Geological    Surveys   of 
Givat   Britaiu   and   Ireland. — In   Two   Parts,  each   complete   in  itself. 


COST 
Part  I.— No.  38. 
I. —  My  First   Geological   Excursion. 
II.—  -the   Old   Man   of  Hoy." 
III.  —  The   Baron's   Stone   of  Killochan. 
IV. —  The  Colliers  of  Carrick. 
V. —  Among  the  Volcanoes  of  Central  France. 
VI. —  The  Old  Glaciers  of  Norway  and  Scotland. 
VII. —  Rock-Weathering  Measured  by  the  Decay 
of  Tombstones. 


ENTS. 

Part  II.— No.  39. 
I. —  A   Fragment   of  Primeval   Europe. 
II.  —  In   Wyoming. 

III. — The   Geysers  of  the  Yellowstone. 
rV —  The  Lava  Fields  of  Northwestern  Europe. 
V. —  The   Scottish   School   of  Geology. 
VT. —  Geographical   Evolution. 
VII. — The  Geological  Influences  which  have  affect- 
ed the  Course  of  British  History. 


No.  40. 

THE    SCIENTIFIC    EVIDENCE    OF    ORGANIC    EVOLUTION.-By 

George   J.  Romanes,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.ii.S.,  Zoological  Secretary  of  the  Linnean 
Society.  London. 


I. —  Introduction. 

n. —  The  Argument  from  Classification.  [are. 
in. —  The  Argument  from  Morphology  or  Struct- 
IV.  —  The  Argument  from  Geologv. 


CONTENTS. 

V. — The  Argument  from  Geographical  Distribu- 
VI.  —  The  Argument  from  Embryology.         [tion. 
VII.—  Arguments   drawn    from.  Certain   General 
Considerations. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 

PALEONTOLOGY    AND    THE    DOCTRINE    OF    EVOLUTION.-By 
Prof.  Thomas  H.  Huxley. 

NATURAL   SELECTION    AND    NATURAL  THEOLOGY.-By Eustace 

R.    CONDER.    P.P. 

No.  41. 

CURRENT    DISCUSSIONS     IN     SCIENCE.-By  W.  Mattieu  Williams. 

F.R.A.S.,  F.C.S..  author  of  "The  Fuel  of  the  Sun,"  "Through  Norway  with  a 
Knapsack,"  "A  Simple  Treatise  on  Heat,"  &c. 

contents. 

I. —  Meteoric   Astronomv.  IX.- 

II.— Dr.  Siemens's  Theofv  of  the  Sun.  X.- 

m.— Another  World   Down   Here.  XI.- 

IV. —  The  Origin  of  Volcanoes.  XTT.- 

V. — Note  on  the  Direct  Effect  of  Sun-Spots  on 

Terrestrial  Climates.  XIII.- 

VI. —  The  Philosophy  of  the  Radiometer  and  its  XIV.- 

Cosmical  Revelations.  XV- 

VII.  —  The  Solidity  of  the  Earth.  XVI.- 

VIII. —  Meteoric  Astronomv. 


■Aerial  Exploration  of  the  Arctic  Regions. 

•"'Baily's   Beads." 

■  World-smashing. 

•On    the    so-called    "Crater-Necks"   and 

"Volcanic   Bombs"  of   Ireland. 
-  Travertine. 

-Mnrchison   and   Babbage. 
-The  "Consumption  of  Smoke." 
-The  Air  of   Stove-heated   Rooms. 


X 


42. 


OF     THE      SCIENCE      OF      POLITICS.- By    Frederick 


HISTORY 

Pollock. 

C  O  N  T  E 

Chapter  I. —  Introductory. —  Place  of  the  Theory 
of  Politics  in  Human  Knowledge. 

Chapter  II. — The  Classic  Period:  Pericles — Soc- 
rates— Plato — Aristotle. — The  Greek  Ideal  of 
the  State. 

Chapter  ni.—  Tiie  Mediaeval  Period:  The  Papaey 
and  the  Empire. — Thomas  Aquinas — Dante — 
Bracton — Marsilio  of  Padua. 

Chapter  IV. —  The  Modern  Period:  Machiavelli — 
Jean  Bodin — Sir  Thomas   Smith — Hobbes. 


NTS. 

Chapter  V. —  The  Modern  Period  (continued): 
Hooker — Locke — Rousseau — Blackstone. 

Chapter  VI. —  The  Modern  Period  (continued): 
Hume — Montesquieu — Burke. 

Chapter  VII.—  The  Present  Century:  Political 
Sovereignty — Limits  of  State  Intervention — 
Bentham  — Austin — Maine — Bagehot — Kant  — 
Ahrens  —  Savigny  —  Cornewall  Lewis  —  John 
Stuart  Mill — Herbert  Spencer — Laboulaye. 


No.  43. 

DARWIN    AND    HUMBOLDT.-Their    Lives    and    Work.- By  Prof. 
Huxley  and  others. 

CONTENTS. 


CHARLES  DARWIN. 
I.— Introductory  Notice.— By  Th.  H.  Huxley. 
II.— Lite  and  Character.— By  Gko.  J.  Romanes. 
in.— Work  iu  Geology. — By  Archibald  Geikie. 
IV. — Work  in  Botanyi-ByW.T.THisELTON"  Dyer. 
V.— Work  in  Zoology.— By  Geo.  J.  Romanes. 
VI. — Work  in  Psvchology. — By  ItKo.  J.  Romanes 


ALEXANDER  VON    HUMBOLDT. 

I. — An  Address  delivered  by  LOUIS  AGASSIZ  at 
the  <  lentennial  Anniversary  ot'  the  birth  of  ALEX- 
ANDER von  Humboldt,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  Sept.  14. 1869. 

II.— Remarks  by  Prof.  Frederic  H.  Hedge,  of 
Harvard  University. 


THE    HUMBOLDT   PUBLISHING   CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place.  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


44  and 


THE     DAWN      OF     HISTORY.      An 
Study*- Edited    by   C.   P.   Kkart,  M.A. 
Parts,  each   i 


1  .*.■•.    ■ 

Introduction     to     Prehistoric 
I tritisfa   Museum.  —  In   Two 


COSTEXT  B. 


Past  I  — v- 
chapter      I.— The   Earliest  TraoM  of  Man. 
Chapter     II.— The  Second  Btona  Age, 
ni. — The  Growth  of   Lang 
rV. —  Families   of   Language. 
-,r     V.— The  Nations  ol   the  Old  World. 
.■}<■  Social    I 
Chapter  VII.— The  Village  Community. 


Part  II.— No.  45. 
Chapter  Vm.— Religion. 
Chapter     IX.  —  Aryan    R 
Chapter      X.— The  Other  World. 
Chapter     XL— Mythologies  and  Folk-Ta    . 

XII. —  Picture-writing. 
Chapter  XI II.—  Phonetic   Writ  inc. 
Chapter  XIV.— Oonclnaion. — Notea  and  Author- 


THE     DISEASES    OF    MEMORY.     By  Th.  Ribot,  author  of  "Heredity,'1 
jliah  Psychology,"  &c. — Translated  from  the  French  by  J.  Fitzgerald,  A.M. 


contents. 


Chapter  L—  Memory  as  a  Biol ical  Pact. 

Memory  essentially  a    biological    fact,   Incident- 
ally a  psychic  fact.— Organic   memory.— Mod- 
ifleatlona  of  nerve-elements ;   dynamic  associa- 
j  between  these  elements. — Conscious  mem- 
ory.—  Conditions   of  consciousness:    Intensity; 
duration. —  Unconscious    cerebration.—  Nerve- 
on  is  the  fundamental  condition  of  memory; 
Lousness   Is  only  an  accessory. —  Localiza- 
tion in  the  past,  or  recollection. —  Mechanism 
of  tiii<  operation. — It  i>-  not  a  simple  and  Instan- 
taneous act;   it  consists  ol  the  addition  of  see- 
ondary  states  ol  consciousness  to  the  principal 
insciousness — Memory  is  a  vision  in 
—  Localization,  theoretical  an<l  practical. — 
rence  points. —  Resemblance  and  difference 
between  localization  in  the  future  ami  in  the 
vast. —  All  memory  an  illusion. — Forgetf  ulness 
edition  oi  mi  mory.— Return  to  the  Btarting- 
point ;  conscious  memory  tends  little  by  little  to 
■   automatic. 

Chapter  II.— General  Amnesia. 
•    at  inn  of  the  diseases  of  memory. —  Tem- 
porary amnesia. —  Bpileptics.— Forgetfulnesa  of 
in  periods  of  life. —  Examples  <>f  re-educa- 
tion.— Blow  and  Budden  recoveries. — ( !ase  of  pro- 
visional   memory. —  Periodical   or  intermittent 
amnesia. —  Formation  of  two  memories,  totally 
or  partially  distinct. —  Cases  nf  hypnotism  re- 
eled by  Macnish.Azam,  and  Dufay. — Progress- 
ive amnesia. —  Its  Importance. — Reveals  the  law 
which  governs  the  destruction  of  memory. — Law 
of  regression  :  enunciation  of  this  law. — In  what 


order  memory  fails. —Counter-proof :  it  Is  i 
BtitUted  in  inverse  order. — Confirmatory  facts.— 
<  kmgenita]  amnesia. — Extraordinary  memory  of 
some  idiots. 

Chnpter  III.— Partial  Amne-ia. 
Reduction  of  memory  to  memories. —  Anatomical 
and  physiological  reasons  for  partial  men 
— Amnesia  of  numbers, names,  figures  forms,  && 
— Amnesia  of  signs. — Its  nature:  a  h>v-  ,,f  motor- 
memory.—  Examination  of  this  point. — I'r  ■_ 
ive  amnesia  of  signs  verifies  completely  the  lnw 
of   regression.  —  Order  of  dissolution:    proper 
names:    common  nouns:   verba  and  adjectives; 
interjections,   and    language  of  the  emotions: 
gestures. — Relation  between  this  dissolution  and 
the  evolution  of  the  Indo-European  languages. — 
Counter-proof:  return  of  signs  in  inverse  order. 

Chapter  IV. —  Exaltation   OF   MXMORT,   OR 

HYPEHMNESfA. 

General  excitation. —  Partial  excitation. —  Return 
of  lost  memories.  —  Return  of  forgotten  lan- 
guages.— Reduction  of  this  fad  to  the  law  of  re- 
gression. — Case  Of  false  memory. —  Examples, 
anil  a  BUggeSted   explanation. 

i  ihapter  v.—  <  Ionclusion. 
Relations  between  the  retention  of  perceptions 
and  nutrition,  between  the  reproduction  of  rec- 
ollections and  the  genera]  and  local  circulation. 
—  Influence  of  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
blood — Examples. —  The  law  of  regri  ssion  con- 
nected with  a  physiological  principle  and  n  psy- 
chological principle. —  Recapitulation. 


No.  47 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  RELIGIONS.-Embracing  a  Simple  Account 
of  the  Birth  and  Growth  of  Myths  and  Legends.— %  Edward 
CLODD,   F.R.A.S.,  author  of  "The   Childhood    of   the  World,"   "The   Story  of 


COR  TEX  TS. 


■  r     I.— Introductory. 

'     [ends  of  the  Past  about  the  Crea- 

r  in  —Creation  as  told  by  8ci< 

,  r  i\  — Legends  ol  the  Pasl  aboul  Mankind 

ter    V.— Early  Races  of  Mankind.        [dona. 

Chapter  VI.— The  Aryan,  or  Indo-European  na- 

ChapterVII. — The  Ancient   and    Modern    Hindu 

Religions. 


Chapter  Vm.—Zoroastrianism,  the  Ancient   Re- 
ligion  of  Persia. 
Chapter     EX.— Buddhism. 

Chapter       X.— The    Religions  of  China. 
Chapter     XI.— The  Semitic  Nations. 
Chapter    XII  —Mohammedanism,  or  Islam. 
Chapter  XIII. — On  the  Study  of  the  Bible. 


Published    semi-monthly.—  $3   a  year.—  Single    numbers.  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  48. 

LIFE     IN     NATURE.— B.v  James  Hixtox.  author  of 
Place,"    •"The   Mystery  of  Pain."  &e. 


Man   and   his   Dwelling- 


cox  texts. 


Chapter      I.— Of  Function;  or.  How  We  Act. 
Chapter    II. — Of  Nutrition;   or,  Why  We  Grow. 
Chapter  III.— Of  Nutrition;   The  Vital  Force. 
Chapter   IV. — Of  Living  Forms :  or.  Morphology. 
Chapter     V.— Living  Forms.— The  Law  of  Form. 

ter   VI.— Is  Life  Universal.' 
Chapter  Vn.— The  Living  World. 


Chapter  VIII. —  Nature  and  Man. 

Chapter     IX.  —  The   Phenomenal   and   the  True. 

Chapter       X. —  Force. 

Chanter     XI. — The  Organic   and   the   Inorganic. 

I    lapter    XII.  — The   Lite  of  Man. 

Chapter  XIII. —  Conclusion. 


No.  49. 

THE    SUN:     Its    Constitution;     Its    Phenomena;     Its    Condition.— 

By  NATHAN    T.  Caur,  LL.D..  Judge   of  the  Ninth  Judicial  Circuit  of  Indiana. 
With  an  Appendix  by  Richard  A.  Proctor  and  M.  W.  Williams. 


Section  L—  Purpose  of  this  Essay.— Difficulties 
of  the  Subject. 

Distance  from  the  Earth  to  the  Sun. 

The  Diameter  of  the  Sun. 

The  Form  of  the  Sun. 

Rotary  Motion  of  the  Sun. 

Perturbating  Movement. 

The  Sun's  Orbital  Movement. 

The  Sun's  Attractive  Force. — Den- 
sity of  the  Solar  Mass. 

The  Sun's  Atmosphere. 

The  Chromosphere. 

Corona.  Prominences,  and  Faculos. 

The  Photosphere. 

The  Sun's  Heat. 

Condition  of  the  Interior. 

Effects  of  Heat  on  Matter. 


Section 

H. 

Section 

Ill 

Section 

IV. 

Section 

V. 

Seetion 

VI. 

Section 

VII. 

Section  VIII. 

Section 

IX. 

Section 

X. 

Section 

XI 

Section 

XII 

Section  XIII 

Section  XIV 

Section 

XV 

E  X  T  S. 

Section  XVI- 

Se<_-tion  XVII.- 

Seetion  XVIII.- 

Seetion  XIX- 

Section  XX  - 

Section  XXI.- 

Section  XXII- 
Seetion  XXIII.- 
Section  XXIV  - 
Section  XXV- 
Sectiou  XXVI- 

Seetion  XXVII.- 

Section  XXVni 


-The  Expansive  Power  of  Heat. 
-The  Sun's  Crust. 
-The  Gaseous  Theory. 
-The  Vapor  Theorv. 
-The  "Cloud-like""  Theory. 
-Supposed  Supports  of  the  Fore- 
going Theories. 
-The  Crust  in  a  Fluid  Condition. 
-Production  of  the  Sun-Spots. 
-The  Area  of  Sun-Spots  Limited. 

-  Periodicity  of  the  Spots. 

-The   Snots    are   Cavities  in  the 
Sun. 

-  How  the  Heat  of  the  Sun  reaches 

the  Earth. 

-  The  Question  of  the  Extinction 

of  the  Sun. 


Appendix.—  First.— The  .Sun's  Corona  and  his  Spots.— By  Richard  A.  Proctor. 
Second.— The  Fuel  of  the  Sun.— Bv  Richard  A.  Proctor. 
Third.— The  Fuel  of  the  Sun.— A  Reply,  by  W.  M.  Williams. 


No.  50  and  No.  51.  I15   cents   Pnf'h    number. 

MONEY   AND   THE    MECHANISM    OF   EXCHANGE.- By  w.  Stanley 

Jevons,  M.A..  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Logic  and  Political  Economy  in  the  Owens 
College,  Manchester,  England.—  In  Two  Parts. 


Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter  VII. 
Chapter  VIII. 
Chapter  LX. 
Chapter       X. 

Chapter  XL- 
Chapter  XII. 
Chapter  XIII. 

Chapter  XIV  — 


COXT 

Barter. 

Exchange. 

The  Functions  of  Money. 

Early  History  of   Money. 

Qualities  of  the  Material  of  Money 

The  Metals  as  Money. 

Coins. 

The  Principles  of  Circulation. 

Systems  of  Metallic  Money. 

The  English  System   of   Metallic 

Currency. 
Fractional  Currency. 
The  Battle  of  the  Standards. 
Technical     Matters    relating    to 

Coinage. 
International   Monev. 


E  X  T  S. 

Chapter 
Chapter 

Chapter 

XV. 
XVI. 

XVII. 

Chapter 

XVIIL- 

Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 

Chapter 

Chapter 
Chapter 

XTX.- 
XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

Chapter 

Chapter 

XXV. 
XXVI. 

-The  Mechanism  of  Exchange. 

-Representative  Money. 

-The    Nature    and    Varieties    of 

Promissory  Notes. 
-Methods  of  Regulating  a  Paper 

Currency. 
-Credit  Documents.        [System. 
-Book   Credit   and   the   Banking 
-The   Clearing-House   Svstem. 
-The   Check   Bank. 
-Foreign   Bills   of   Exchange. 
-The  Bank  of  England  and  the 

Money  Market. 
-A  Tabular  Standard  of  Value. 
-The  Quantity  of  Money  needed 

bv  a  Nation. 


THE    DISEASES    OF 

eases  of  Memorv."  &e.- 


THE     WILL.— By  Th.  Ribot.  author  of  "The  Dis- 
-  Translated  from  the  French  bv  J.  Fitzgerald,  A.M. 


C  "  X  T  E  X  T  S 

Chapter     I.— Introduction. -The  Question  Stated. 
Chapter    n.—  Impairment  of  the  Will.— Lack  of 

Impulsion. 
Chapter  in.— Impairment  of  the  Will.— Excess  of 

Impulsion. 


Chapter   IV— Impairment  of  VoluntaryAttention. 
Chapter     V.— The  Realm  of  Caprice. 
Chapter   VI. — Extinction  of  the  Will. 
Chapter  VII. — Conclusion. 


THE    HUMBOLDT   PUBLISHING   CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place.  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


ANIMAL    AUTOMATISM,    AND     OTHER     ESSAYS.- By  Thomai 
;i    •■ :  i  \.   LL.D..   P.E.8. 


L— On    the    Hypothesis    tlmt    Animals,    ere 

•  iiit.i.   anil    its    History. 
II.—  Science  ami   Culture. 
III.—  <  Mi  Elementary  Instruction  in  Phyiiolog] 


00  NT  E  N  T  s. 

IV  ■ 


On    tli"    Border   Territory    between    tin 
Animal  and  the  Vegetable  Kingdom*. 
V.— Universities:   Aetna]  and  [deal. 


I 

THE     BIRTH     AND     GROWTH     OF     MYTHS.- By  Bdwaed  Clodd, 

F.K.A.s..  author  of  ••The  Childhood  of  the  World."  "The  Childhood  of  Re- 
ligions,H  "The  story  of  Creation,"  fto. 


I. —  Nature  as  Viewed  by  Primitive  (fan. 
II. —  Penonifleation  of  the  Powers  of  Nature. 
III.  —  The  Sun   and   Moon   In   Mythology. 
IV. —  The   Theories    of    Certain    Comparative 

Mythologiste.  ' 
V.— Aryan   Mythology. 

VI. —  The  Primitive  Nature-Myth  Transformed. 
VII.— The  8targ  in   Mythology. 
VIII. —  Myths  "f  the  Destructive  Forces  of  Suture. 
EX.— The  Hiti. In  Bun-and-Cloud  Myth. 
X. —  Demonology. 


B  M  T  s. 

XI. —  Metempsychosis  and  Transformation. 
X1L — Transformation   in  the   Middle  Agi 
XIII.     The  Belief  in  Transformation  Universal 
XIV.—  Beast-Fables, 
XV.  —  Totemism. 

XVI — Heraldry:   Ancestor-worship.         [tives. 
WII. — Survival    of    Myth    in    Historical   Narra- 
XVTH.— Myths  'it   Kin^r  Arthur  anil  Llewellyn. 
XIX  — Semitic  Myths  and   In  -•• 
XX. —  Conclusion. 
Appendix.— An  American  Indian  Myth. 


No.  r>5. 


THE    SCIENTIFIC    BASIS   OF   MORALS,  AND    OTHER    ESSAYS. 

By  William    KINGDOM   CLIFFORD,   F.li.S. 


I. —  On    tho    Scientific    Basis   of   Morals. 
II. —  Bight    and  Wrong:    th<>  Scientific  Ground 
of  their  Distinction. 


CONTENTS. 

III.— The  Ethics  of  Belief. 
IV.— The  Ethics  of  Religion. 


and  No.  57.  [15  cents  each    number. 

ILLUSIONS:    A    PSYCHOLOGICAL   STUDY.- By  James  silly,  author 

of  "Sensation   and   Intuition."  "Pessimism,*1  &c. —  In   Two  Parts. 


C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


Chapter  L- 

Chapter  ll 

Chapter  III  - 

Chapter  IV.- 

Chapter  V.- 

■  •  r  VI.- 

■  •  i-  V 1 1 


■The  Study  of  Illusion 

•The  Classification  of  Illusions. 
■Illusions  of  Perception:  General. 
-Illusions  "f  Perception  [continued). 
-  Illusions  of  Perception  (continued). 
■  Illusions  of  Perception  (continued). 
•  Dreams. 


Chapter Vm. —  Illusions   of   Introspection. 
Chapter     IX. —  Other   Quasi-Presentative   Illu- 

sions:    Errors   of   Insight. 
Chapter      X. —  Illusions  of  Memory. 
Chapter     XI.— Illusions  of  Belief. 
Chapter   SOL—  Results. 


-  and  N"   58. 


Two  double  numbers,  30  cents  each. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  SPECIES  BY  MEANS  OF  NATURAL  SELEC- 
TION, or  the  Preservation  of  Favored  Races  in  the  Struggle 
for   Life. —  1  ;>  Charles  Darwin,  M.a..  F.R.S. —  New  edition,  from  the  sixth 

and  latest  English  edition, with  additions  and  corrections. — Two  double  numbers. 


-■  :•        L — Variation  under  Domestication. 

•r        II—  Variation    under   Nature. 

Chapter    III.  —  Struggle  for  Existence. 
Chapter     IV. —  Natural   Selection;    or,   the  Sur- 
vival ot   the   Fittest. 
Chapter       V.— Laws    of    Variation. 

-     VL— Difficulties  of  the  Theory. 
Chapter   VII. —  Miscellaneous  Objections  to  tho 

.    i.l    Natural    Selection. 
Chapter  vni .—  Instinct. 
Chapter     IX. — Hybridism. 


CONT  KN  TS. 

Chapter      X. 

Chapter    XI. 


Chapter  XII. 
Chapter  XIII. 
Chapter  XIV. 


Chapter   XV.- 
tndex. —  Gloss 


■  On  the  Imperfection  of  the  Geo- 
logical Record. 

-On   the  Geological  Succession  oi 
Organic  Beings. 

-  Geological  I  >istrribntion. 

-Geological  Distribution  (eontin'd). 

.Mutual  Affinities  oi  Organic  Be- 
bags:  Morphology:  Embryology: 
Rudimentary  <  hrgans. 
Recapitulation  and  Conclusion. 

rj   of  Scientific  Terms. 


Published    semi-monthly.— $3  a  year.— Single    numbers,  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  60. 

THE   CHILDHOOD   OF  THE   WORLD.-A  Simple  Account  of  Man 

in    Early  Times.— By  Edward  Clodd,  F.R.A.S.,  author  of  ''The  Childhood 
of  Religions,"  ''The  Story  of  Creation, "  &e. 


I.- 
el- 
dx- 

IV.- 

v.. 

VI.- 

vn, 

VIII.. 
IX.- 

X.- 

XI.- 

xn.- 

XIII.- 

xrv.- 
xv. 


XVI.- 

XVII.- 
XVIII.- 


CONTEXTS. 

Part  I. 

xrx.- 

Introductorv. 

XX.- 

Mau's  First  Wants. 

XXI.- 

Alan's  First  Tools. 

xxn.- 

Fire. 

xxin. 

Cooking  and  Pottery. 

xxrv. 

Dwellings. 

XXV. 

Use  of  Metals. 

XXVI. 

Man's  Great  Age  on  the 

Earth. 

XXVII. 

Mankind   as    Shepherds, 

Farmers 

and 

XXVIII. 

Traders. 

Language. 

Writing. 

Counting. 

XXIX. 

Man's  Wanderings  from  his  first  Home. 

XXX. 

Man's  Progress  in  all  things. 

XXXI. 

Decay  of  Peoples. 

YTXTT. 
XXXTTT 

Part  II. 

xxxrv. 

Introductorv. 

XXXV. 

Man's  First   Questions. 
Myths. 

XXXVI. 
XXXVII. 

-Myths  about  Sun  and  Moon. 

-Myths   about   Eclipses. 

-Myths   about   Stars. 

-Myths   about  the   Earth  and  Man. 

-Man's   Ideas   about   the   Soul. 

-Belief  in   Magic  and  Witchcraft. 

-Man's  Awe  of  the  Unknown. 

-  Fetish  -Worship. 
-Idolatry. 

-  Xature  -Worship. 

1.  Water -Worship. 

2.  Tree-Wo'-ship. 

3.  Animal  -Worship. 
-Polytheism,  or  Belief  in  Many  Gods. 
-Dualism,  or  Belief  in  Two  Gods. 

-  Prayer. 

-  Sacrifice. 

-Monotheism,  or  Belief  in  One  God. 
-Three  Stories  About  Abraham. 
-Man's  Belief  in  a  Future  Life. 

-  Sacred   Books. 
-Conclusion. 


Xo.  61. 

MISCELLANEOUS     ESSAYS.  — By  Richard  A.  Proctor,  B.A. 
author  of  "The  Sun,"  ''Other  Worlds  than  Ours,"  "Saturn,"  &c. 


F.R.A.S.. 


CONTEXTS. 


I. —  Strange   Coincidences. 
II. — Coincidences  and  Superstitions. 
TTT. —  Gambling  Superstitions. 
IV. — Learning  Languages. 


V. —  Strange  Sea  Creatures. 
VI.  —  The  Origin  of  Whales. 
VII. — Praver  and   Weather. 


Xo.  62. 


[Double   number.   '.'.O  cents. 


THE    RELIGIONS    OF  THE   ANCIENT   WORLD,  including   Egypt, 
Assyria  and  Babylonia,  Persia,  India,  Phoenicia,  Etruria,  Greece, 

Rome. —  By  George  Rawlixsox,  M.A.,  Camden  Professor  of  Ancient  History, 
Oxford,  and  Canon  of  Canterbury. — Author  of  "The  Origin  of  Nations,"  "The 
Five  Great  Monarchies,"  &c. 


Chapter     I. —  The    Religion    of    the    Ancient 

Egyptians. 
Chapter    II.  —  The  Religion  of  the  Assyrians 

and   Babylonians. 
Chapter  m.  —  The    Religion    of    the    Ancient 

Iranians. 
Chapter  IV.  — The     Religion     of     the     Early 

Sanskritic    Indians. 


C  O  X  T  E  X  T  S. 

Chapter  V. — The  Religion  of  the  Phoenicians 
and  Carthaginians. 

Chapter      VI. —  The   Religion  "of    the   Etruscans. 

Chanter  VII. —  The  Religion  of  the  Ancient 
Greeks. 

Chapter  VIII. —  The  Religion  of  the  Ancient 
Romans. 

Concluding   Remarks. 


Xo.  63. 

PROGRESSIVE    MORALITY.-An    Essay   in    Ethics- By  Thomas 

Fowler,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  President  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Wykeham 
Professor  of  Logic  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 


c  o  x  t  e  x  t  s. 


Chapter      I.  —  Introduction. — The    Sanctions    of 

Conduct. 
Chapter    II.  —  The    Moral     Sanction    or    Moral 

Sentiment. —  Its    Functions,  and 

the  Justification  of  its  Claims  to 

Superiority. 


Chapter  III.  —  Analysis  and  Formation  of  the 
Moral  Sentiment.— Its  Education 
and  Improvement. 

Chanter  IV.  — The  MoralTest  and  its  Justification. 

Chapter  V. —  The  Practical  Application  of  the 
Moral  Test  to  Existing  Morality. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    LIFE,  Animal    and  Vegetable,  in   Space 
and  Time.     I:>  Alfred  Pallaci    and  W.  T.  Thiselton   Dybb. 


CON  T  E  N  T  s. 


v>     •■    n    L— DISTRIBUTION    Of   Amm.ii.v 
a]   Distribution  of  Land  Anlm 
tribntton    of   Animals. 
,.t    Disperse]   of   Animal-. 
•        w  . ■>  spread   and    Local  G-ronps. 
D. —  Barriers  which  Limit  the  Distribution  i 
K  —  '/'.•  eions. 

The  P  :.  idon 

•  thioplan  Region. 

r  \i-tr;ili:iii  Region. 
Tin'  Neotropical  Region. 
The  I  .  {ion. 

button  of  the  EUgher  Animals  during  the 
Tertiary  Period. 
A.— Tertiary  Fauna-  and  their  Geographical  Rela- 
tion ins. 

rthplace  and  Migrations  01  some  Mamma- 
lian Families  and  Genera. 

ition  of   Marine  Animals. 
Foramlnlfera.  Cirrhipedla, 

Spougida.  Mollusca. 

Acttnosoa.  Fishes. 

Polj  Marine  Turtles. 

lodermata.  t'.-tacea. 

Crustacea. 


General    Relal  Marine   with   Ten 

Zodli 

Distribution  "t  Animals  In  'l '. 


8KCTI0M  II.  —  DlsTKinfTl'iX  OrVlOITABL] 

Tiif.    (fOBTHXBM    FLORA 
The  Arctic-Alpine  Flora. 
The  Intermediate  or  Temperate  Flora. 
The  Mediterraneo-Cauoasian  Flora. 

The   80CTHKRN   Flora. 

The  Antarctic-Alpine  l'l^ra. 

The   Australian    I  lura. 

The  Andine  Flora. 

The  Mexico-Califomian  Flora. 

The  South-African  Flora. 

Thk  Tropical  Flora. 

The  I  mi. . Malayan  Tropical  Flora. 
The  American  Tropical  Flora. 
The  African  Tropical  Flora. 


CONDITIONS  OF  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT,  and  Other  Essays. 
By  William  Kingdon  Clifford,  P.R.S.,  late  Professor  of  Applied  Mathematics 
in  University  College,  London. 


CO  N  T  K  N  T  s. 


I.  —  <)n    some   of    the   Conditions   "f    Mental 
Development. 

II.  —  On  the  Aims  and  Instruments  of  Scientific 
Thought 


III  —A   Lecture   on   Atoms. 

IV.  — The  First  and  the  Last  Catastrophe. — Aerit- 
iciam  nn  some  recent  speculations  about 
the  duration  of  the  universe. 


So.  GC. 

TECHNICAL     EDUCATION,    AND     OTHER     ESSAYS.-By 


Thomas  Henry  Huxley.  F.R.iS. 


1.—  T«-i  hnical   Education 
II. — Tin-  Connection  of  the  Biological  S 

with   Medicine. 
III. — Toseph  Priestly. 


('((XT  l:  N  T  S. 

IV.— (tn  Sensation  and  the  Unity  of  Structure  of 
Sensiferoua  <  Organs. 

V. — On  Certain  Errors  respecting  the  Structure 
of  the  Heart  attributed  to  Aristotle. 


THE     BLACK    DEATH:    An    Account   of  the    Deadly  Pestilence   of 

the  Fourteenth  Century.— By  J.  F.  C.  HECKER,  M.D..  Professor  in  the 
Frederick  William  University,  Berlin;  Member  of  various  learned  societies  in 
London,  Lyons,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  &c. —  Translated  for  the  Sydenham 
Society,  of   London,  by  B.  <;.  Babington,  M.D.,  K.R.S. 


1  —  ( L'--  ■• 

■•  r    II.  —  The   l '■-• 

-  —  Spread. 

C    IV—  Mortality 

-    ter     V.—  M01 

VI.—  Phj  ridana. 


.'  B  N  T  S. 

Appendix, 

I. — The  Ancient  Song  of   the  Flagellants. 
II. —  Examination   of    the   Jews    accused  of 
Poisoning  the  Wells. 


Published    semi-monthly.     $3  a  year.— Single    numbers,  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  68.  Special  number,   10   cents. 

LAWS   IN   GENERAL,  AND  THE  ORDER  OF  THEIR  DISCOVERY. 
THE    ORIGIN    OF  ANIMAL  WORSHIP.- POLITICAL   FETICHISM. 

Three  Essays  by  Herbert  Spencer. 
No.  69.  [Double  number,  30  cents. 

FETICHISM.— A  Contribution   to  Anthropology  and   the   History  of 

Religion.— B.v  Fritz  Schultze,  Dr.  Phil.— Translated  from  the  German  by 
J.  Fitzgerald,  M.A. 


contents. 


Chapter      I. — Introductory. 

Chapter    II. —  The  Mind  of  the  Savage  in  its  In- 
tellectual and  Moral  Aspects. 

1.  The  Intellect  of  the  Savage. 

2.  The  Morality  of  the  Savage. 

3.  Conclusion. 

Chapter  III. —  The  Relation  between  the  Savage 
Mind  and  its  Object. 

1.  The  Value  of  Objects.  [iects. 

2.  The  Anthropathic  Apprehension  of  Ob- 

3.  The  Causal  Connection  of  Objects. 
Chapter  IT. —  Fetichism  as  a  Religion. 

1.  The  Belief  in  Fetiches. 

2.  The  Range  of  Fetich  Influence. 

3.  The  Religiosity  of  Fetich  Worshipers. 

4.  Worship  and  Sacrifice. 

5.  Fetich  Priesthoods. 

6.  Fetichism  among  Non-Savages. 


Chapter    V. — The  Various  Ob j  ects  of  Fetich  Wor- 

1.  Stones  as  Fetiches.  [ship. 

2.  Mountains  as  Fetiches. 

3.  Water  as  a  Fetich. 

4.  Wind  and  Fire  as  Fetiches. 

5.  Plants  as  Fetiches. 

6.  Animals  as  Fetiches. 

7.  Men  as  Fetiches. 

Chapter  VI.— The  Highest  Grade  of  Fetichism. 

1.  The  New  Object. 

2.  The  Gradual  Acquisition  of  Knowledge. 

3.  The  Worship  of  the  Moon. 

4.  The  Worship  of  the  Stars. 

5.  The  Transition  to  Sun -Worship. 

6.  The  Worship  of  the  Sun. 

7.  The  Worship  of  the  Heavens. 
Chapter  VH.— The  Aim  of  Fetichism. 

1.  Retrospect.— 2.  The  New  Problem. 


No.  70. 

ESSAYS,   SPECULATIVE 


AND     PRACTICAL.— By  Herbert  Spencer. 


I. —  Specialized  Administration. 
IT. —  "The  Collective  Wisdom." 
III. —  Morals  and  Moral  Sentiments. 


CONTENTS. 


IV.—  Reasons  for  Dissenting  from  the  Philosophy 

of  Comte. 
V.— What  is  Electricity? 


ANTHROPOLOGY.— By  Daniel  Wilson,  LL.D.,  author  of  "Prehistoric  Man." 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter     I. —  Scope  of  the  Science. 
Chapter    II. —  Man's   Place  in  Nature. 
Chapter  HI. —  Origin   of  Man. 
Chapter  rV—  Races  of  Mankind. 


Chapter     V.— Antiquity  of  Man. 

Chapter    VI. —  Language. 

Chapter  VH —  Development  of  Civilization. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 


ARCHAEOLOGY.  —  By  E.  B.  Ttlor,  F.R.S.,  author  of  "The    Early  History  of 
Mankind,"  "Primitive   Culture,"  &c.  , 

No.  72. 

THE    DANCING     MANIA    OF    THE     MIDDLE    AGES- By  J.  F.  c. 

Hecker,  M.D.,  Professor  in  the  Frederick  William  University,  Berlin;  author  of 
"The  Black  Death."— Translated  by  B.  G.  Babington,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter   I. — The  Dancing  Mania  in  Germany  and 
the  Netherlands. 
Sect.  1. —  St.  John's  Dance. 
Sect.  2. —  St.  Vitus's  Dance. 
Sect.  3. — Causes. 

Sect.  4. — More  Ancient  Dancing  Plagnes. 
Sect.  5.  —  Physicians. 

Sect.  6. — Decline  and  Termination  of  the 
Dancing  Plague. 


Chapter  n.— The  Dancing  Mania  in  Italy. 

Sect.  1. —  Tarantism. 

Sect.  2. —  Most  Ancient  Traces. —  Causes. 

Sect.  3. —  Increase. 

Sect.  4. —  Idiosyncracies. —  Music. 

Sect.  5. — Hysteria. 

Sect.  6. — Decrease. 
Chapter  III. —  The  Dancing  Mania  in  Abyssinia. 

Sect.  1. — Tigretier. 
Chapter  IV. —  Sympathy. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


EVOLUTION    IN    HISTORY,    LANGUAGE,   AND    SCIENCE. 
Poor  addressee  deliyered  at  the  London  CrystsJ  Palace  Behool  of  Art,  Be 
inn!  Literature. 

Past  and    Present   in   the   East.     A  Parallelism  demonstrating  the  principle 
■    i  ausal    Evolution,   and  the  necessity  of    the  study  of  General    History. — 
By  G.  G.  Zkrffi,  D.Ph.,  Fellow  of  ti"'  Royal   Bistorieal   Boeiety  of  London. 


A   Plea   for  a    More    Scientific    Study  of   Geography.—  By  Rev.  W.  A. 

B,  MA  .  formerly  Exhibitioner  of  Cains  College,  Cambridge. 
ill. 
Hereditary  Tendencies    as    Exhibited    in     History,— By  Hskry  Elliot 

Mai.im-.n.  M.A..  F.k.ll.s..  Trinity  Sail,  Cambridge. 

IV. 

Vicissitudes    of    the    English    Language.-  J 'y  Bev.  Eobihsoh  Thorntoh, 
D.D.,  F.R.H.S.,  formerly  Fellow  of  Bt.  John's  College,  Oxford. 


tt  (double  Dumber). 

THE     DESCENT    OF 
TO    SEX.-By  Chari 
vised   and   Augmented. 


MAN,    AND     SELECTION     IN     RELATION 
sa    Darwin. — With   Illustrations. —  New  Edition,  Re- 


Part  I. 

The   Descent  OB  OBlom   Or  Man. 
Cliapter      I.— Tin'  Evidence  of  the  Descent   of 
Man  from  some  Lower  Form. 

Chapter  II. —  <  in  the  Manner  of  Development  of 
Man  from  some  Lower  Porm. 

Chapter   III.  —  Comparison  of  the  Mental  Powers 

of  Man  and  the  Lower  Animals. 

■  c    [V. —  Comparison  of  the  Mental  Powers 

nf  Man  ami  the  Lower  Animals 

i  ued). 
■  c     V.— On  the  Development  of  the  Intel- 
lectual and  Moral  Faculties  dur- 
ing Primeval  ami  Civilised  Times 
Chapter    VI. —  <  >n  the  Affinities  and  Genealogy  of 

Man. 
Chapter  VII— On  the  Races  of  Man. 


CO  NT  KN  TS. 

Chapter 


X. —  Secondary  Sexnal  Characters  oi 

insects. 
XI. —  Insects  (continued) — Order  Lepi- 
dopteraCbntterfliesand  moths) 
XIL —  Secondary  Sexual  Characl 

Pishes,  Amphibians,  and  Rep- 
tiles. 
XIII.— Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of 

Birds.  " 

XIV. — Birds  (continued). 

XV. —  Birds  (continued). 

XVI. —  Birds  {concluded). 

Chapter    XVII. —  Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of 

Mammals. 

Chapter  XVIII. —  Secondary  Sexnal  characters  of 

Mammals 


Chapter 
Chapter 

Chapter 

Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 


Part   III. 

SSXUAL    SxiiXCTTOH    IN    RELATION    TO    Man. 
AMD   CONCIiUBIOXr. 

Chapter     XIX. — Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of 

Man. 
Cliapter        JUL.— Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of 

Man  (continued).  [sion. 

Chapter      XXI. —  General   Summary  and  Concln- 


Past  II. 

Sr.xr.u,   SKLKCnOlT. 
Chapter     v ill —  Principles  of  Sexnal   Selection. 
•  r        IX.— Secondary  Sexual  Character  in 
the  Lower  classes  of  the  An- 
imal Kingdom. 

Numbers  74.  75,  76,  are  single  numbers  (15  cents  each) ;   Number  77  is  a  double  number  (30  cents) 
Price  of  the  entire  work  75  cents. 

HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  LAND  IN 
ENGLAND,  with  Suggestions  for  some  Improvement  in  the  law. 
By  William  Lloyd  Birkbeck,  M.A..  Master  of  Downing  College,  and  Downing 
Professor  of  the  Laws  of  England  in  the  University  of  Cambridge. 


C  O  X  T  E 
Pakt   I 
I. —  Anglo-Saxon  Agriculture. —  Gem 

( ieburs. —  Villain. 
EL— Agriculture  after  the  Conquest.— "V 

I  opyholders. — Continental  Serfs. 

III.  — <  »riL'in  "t   Large   Properties.— Estates  of 

Saxon     Nol.Uity.  —  Evidence    of 
I  »omi 

IV.  — The  Soke.— Socage  Tenure. 

V. —  Agricultural    Communities. 

VI  —  Mr.  Seebohm. 

VII  Taxation  of  Land  —The  Hide, 

VIII. —  Saxon  Law  of  Succession  to  Land. 
CL— Effect  of  the  Norman  Conquest   on  the 
Distribution  of  Land. 

X. —  Norman    Law  of   Succession. 

XI.— strict    Entails.— The  Statute  "De  Donis 

( 'oinlitionalibus." 
XII—  Effec  Entails.— Scotch  Entails. 


N  T  s. 
Xm.— Relaxation  of  Strict  Entails.  —  Common 

Reco\  ■ 
XIV—  Henry  VII.  and  his  Nobles.— The  Statute 

of  Pines, 

XV. — Strict     Settlements. 
XVI. —  Effect  ot    Strict   Settlements  of  Land.— 

Mr.  Thorold  Rogi 
ivu. — Trustees    to    Preserve    Contingent   Re- 
mainders. 

XVIII—  Powers     ol      - 

MX  —  Inclosnro  of  Waste  Lands.  — Mr.  John 
Walter.— Formation  oi  r  Peasant  Pro- 
prietary. _ 

Taut   II. 
I. —  Amendment  of  Law  of  Primogeniture. 
II. —  Proposed  System  of  Registration. 
III. —  Modern   Registration  Acts. 
IV  —  The  Present  Genera]  Registration  Act. 


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No.  IS. 

SCIENTIFIC    ASPECTS    OF    SOME 

M.  Williams,  F.R.S.,  F.C.S. 


FAMILIAR    THINGS.-By  w. 


CONTENTS. 


I. —  On   the   Social   Benefits   of   Paraffin. 

II. — The   Formation   of   Coal. 
III. —  The  Chemistry  of  Bog  Reclamation. 
IV—  The   Coloring  "of  Green   Tea. 

V. —  "Iron-Filings''  in   Tea. 
VI.— The  Origin  of  Soap. 


VII. —  The  Action  of  Frost  in  Water-Pipes  and 
on   Building   Materials. 
VIII. — Fire-Clav  and  Anthracite. 
IX. —  Count   ftnmf ord's  Cooking-Stoves. 
X. — The  Air  of   Stove-Heated   Rooms. 
XI. —  Domestic  Ventilation. 


No.  80.  Double  number,  30  cents. 

CHARLES    DARWIN:    HIS    LIFE   AND   WORK- By  Grant  Allen. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter     I. — The  World  into  which  Darwin  was 

born. 
Chapter   II. — Charles  Darwin  and  his  Antecedents. 
Chapter  in.— Early  Days. 
Chapter  TV. —  Darwin's  Wander- Years. 
Chapter    V. —  The   Period  of  Incubation. 
Chapter  VI. —  "The   Origin  of   Species." 


Chapter    VET. — The  Darwinian  Revolution  begins. 
Chapter  VTII.— The  Descent  of  Man. 
Chapter      IX.— The  Theory  of  Courtship. 
Chapter        X. — Victory  and  Rest. 
Chapter      XI. — Darwin's  Place  in  the  Evolution- 
ary Movement. 
Chapter    XII.— The  Net  Result, 


No.  81. 

THE 
THE 


MYSTERY    OF    MATTER:     and 
PHILOSOPHY    OF    IGNORANCE. 


•By  J.  Allanson  Picton. 


ILLUSIONS     OF    THE     SENSES:    AND     OTHER     ESSAYS.-By 

Richard  A.  Proctor. 


I. —  Illusions  of  the  Senses. 
II. —  Animals  of  the  Present  and  the  Past. 
III.— Life  in  Other  Worlds. 
rV. —  Earthquakes. 


CONTENTS. 

V. —  Our  Dual   Brain. 
VI.— A  New  Star  in  a  Star-Cloud. 
VII. —  Monster   Sea-Serpents. 
VIII.— The  Origin  of  Comets. 


No.  83. 

PROFIT-SHARING    BETWEEN   CAPITAL  AND   LABOR.-Six  Essays. 

By  Sedley  Taylor,  M.A.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  Eng. 


CONTENTS. 


Essay     I. — Profit-Sharing  in  the  Maison  Leclaire. 
Essay   II. —  Profit-Sharing  in  Industry. 
Essay  III.  —  Profit-Sharing  in  Industry  (continued). 
Essay  IV. — Profit-Sharing  in  the  Paris  and  Orleans 
Railway  Company. 


Essay   V. — Profit-Sharing  in  Agriculture. 

Appendix  to  Essay  V.  —  Mr.  Vande- 
leur's   Irish   Experiment. 
Essay  VI. — Profit-Sharing  in  Distributive  Enter- 
prise. 


No.  84. 

STUDIES     OF     ANIMATED     NATURE.- Four   Essays,  viz., 

I. 

Bats.— By  W.  S.  Dallas,  F.L.S. 

II. 
Dragon- Flies.  — By  W.  S.  Dallas,  F.L.S. 

Ill5 

The  Glow-worm    and    other  Phosphorescent  Animals.— By  G.  G.  Chis- 
holm,  M.A.,  B.Sc. 

IV. 
Minute    Organisms.  — By  Frederick  P.  Balkwill. 

tfo.  85. 

THE    ESSENTIAL   NATURE    OF   R ELIG ION.- By  j.  Allanson  Picton, 

author  of  "The  Mystery  of  Matter."  &e. 


CONTEXTS 

I.— Religion  and  Freedom  of  Thought. 
II.  —  The  Evolution  of  Religion. —  Fetichism. 
III. — Nature -Worship. 


IV. — Prophetic  Religions. 
V.— Religious  Dogma. —  The  Future  of  Religion. 


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THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


■. 

THE    UNSEEN    UNIVERSE.  -  By  William  Kingdom  Clifford,  F.B.8 

•i  .>   M  iip  M    i~    ADDSD 

THE     PHILOSOPHY   OF  THE    PURE    SCIENCES.     By  William  Kino- 
dom   Clifford,  P.B.S. 


0  <  >  N  T  E  N  T  B . 


I      9l  .- .iii.nt  ol   ■ 

II. —  k 


III.— 'I'll.'  Postulates  <-i  the  Science  "t  Space. 
IV.— The  Universal  Statementa  ••!  Arithmetic. 


THE     MORPHINE     HABIT    I  MORPHINOMANIA.-Thn,  Lectures  by 
ProfeBsor  B.  Ball,  M.D.,  <>i'  the  Paris  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

0  0  N  TENTS. 


I. —  Morphinomanla,  —  General     Description, — 

Effects  of  the  Abase  of  Morphine. 
II. —  Morphinomania.  —  Effects     ol    Abstinence 
from  Morphine. 


III. —  Morphlnomania. — Diagnosis,  Prognoi 


To  which  is  appended  four  other  lectures,  viz., 


I— The  Border-Land  of  Insanity. 
II.— Cerebral    Dualism. 


m. 

IV.- 


Prolonged    Dreams. 
Insanity    in    Twins. 


SCIENCE  AND  CRIME,  AND    OTHER    ESSAYS.- By  Andrew  Wilson, 
F.B.S.E. 


C  UN'TEKT  S. 


T.  —  Tn.-  Earliest   Known  Life-Relic. 

II. —  About   Kangai 

III.— Du   (iiants. 


IV._  Tlie   Polity  ef  a  Pond. 

V. —  Skates   and    Kays. 
VI. —  Leaves. 


No.  89. 

THE    GENESIS    OF    SCIENCE. -By  Herbert  Spencer. 

TO   WHICH    IS    ADDED 

THE    COMING    OF  AGE    OF  "THE    ORIGIN    OF   SPECIES."-By 

Professor  Thomas  Henry  Huxley,  F.R.S. 


NOTES   ON    EARTHQUAKES:  with  Thirteen  Miscellaneous  Essays. 
Bv  Richard  a.  Proctor. 


contents. 


T. —  Notes  "ii    Earthquakes. 

II. — Photographing   Fifteen    Milliou  Stars, 
ill.  — The   Story  of  the  Moon. 
IV.—  The    Earth's   Past. 

V.— The   Story  of   the   Karth. 
VI  —The  Falls   of  Niagara. 
VI!  -The    Unknowable. 


VIII.— Sun  -Worship. 

IX. —  Herbert   Spencer  on  Priesthoods. 

X.  —  The  Star  of  Bethlehem  and  a  Hible  Comet. 

XI. —  An    Historical    Puzzle. 
XII. —  Galileo,  Darwin,  and  the  Pope. 
XIII  —  Science    and   Polities. 
XTV. — Parents   and  children. 


N'..    Dl.  Double   number,  30   cents. 

THE     RISE     OF    UNIVERSITIES.—  By  S.  8.  Laurie,  LL.IX,  Professor  of  the 
institutes  and  History  of  Education  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 


CONTENTS 
T  —The  Romano-Hellenic  Schools  and  their 

I  >.  '  -  i  J 1 1 » -  - 

II.—  [nflaence  of  Christianity  on  Education. and 

Rise  of  Christian  Schools. 
HI.— Charlemagne  and  the  Ninth  Century. 
IV  —  InnerWork  of  christian  Schools  (460-j  100). 
V. — Tenth  and  Eleventh  Centuries. 

VI— The  Rise  of  Universities  (A    I>   11 

VII.  —  Tn  •  First  Universities.— The  Schola  Baler- 

nitana  and  the  University  of  Naples. 
Till.— The    L'uiv.tmh    of   Polo^na. 


IX 

\ 


XI- 

XII- 
XIII- 
XIV- 

XV- 


The  University  of  T'mis. 

The  Constitution    of   Universities,  —  The 

t .rin-  "Studium  G-enerale"  and  "Uni- 

versitas." 

its  their  Numbers  and  Discipline. — 

Privileges  of  Universities. —  Faculties. 
Graduation. 

Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
The  University  ol  Prague. 
University  Studies  and  the  Conditions  of 

( iraduation. 


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OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  92. 


Double   number.  30   cents. 


THE    FORMATION    OF   VEGETABLE    MOULD    THROUGH    THE 
Action    of    Earthworms,  with   Observations    on    their   Habits.— 

By  Charles  Darwin,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 


contents. 


Chapter     I. —  Habits  of  Worms. 

Chapter    II. —  Habits  of  Worms  (continued). 

Chapter  III. —  The  Amount  of  Fine  Earth  brought 

up  by  Worms  to  the  surface. 
Chapter  TV. —  The  Part  which  Worms  have  played 

in  the  Burial  of  Ancient  Build- 


Chapter  V. —  The  Action  of  Worms  in  the  Demi 
dation  of  the  Land. 

Chapter  VI. —  The  Denudation  of  the  Laud  (con- 
tinued). 

Chapter  VU. —  Conclusion. 


No.  93. 

SCIENTIFIC      METHODS 

Mount  Bleyer,  II. D. 


I. —  General   Review  of  the   Subject. 
II. —  Death  by  Hanging. 
III.— Death  by  Electricity. 
IV. —  Death  by  Morphine  Injection. 


Special   number,   10   cents. 

OF     CAPITAL     PUNISHMENT.-By  j. 

CONTENTS. 

V. —  Death  by  Chloroform. 
VI. —  Death  by  Prussic  Acid. 
VII.  —  Objections   Considered. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 

INFLICTION    OF   THE    DEATH    PENALTY.-By  Park  Benjamin. 

No.  94. 

THE    FACTORS    OF   ORGANIC    EVOLUTION.-By  Herbert  Spencer. 

No.  95. 

THE     DISEASES     OF    PERSONALITY.-By  Th.  Ribot.— Translated  from 
the  French  by  J.  Fitzgerald,  M.A. 


Chapter     I. —  Introduction. 
Chapter    II. —  Organic   Disturbance. 
Chapter  III. — Affective  Disturbance. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  IV. —  Intellective  Disturbance. 

Chapter  V. —  Dissolution   of  Personality. 

Chapter  VI. —  Conclusion. 


No.  96. 

A    HALF-CENTURY    OF    SCIENCE—  By  Thomas  Henry  Huxley,  F.R.S. 

TO    WHICH     IS    ADDED 

THE   PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE  from  1836  to  I886.-By Grant  Allen. 


THE      PLEASURES      OF     LIFE.—  By  Sir  John    Lubbock,  Bart.,  M.P., 
F.R.S.,   D.C.L.,   LL.D. 

Part  First. 


Chapter     I. — The  Duty  of  Happiness. 
Chapter    II. — The   Happiness  of  Duty. 
Chapter  III. — A  Song  of  Books. 
Chapter  IV.— The   Choice   of   Books. 
Chapter    V. —  The  Blessing  of  Friends. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter     VI.— The  Value   of  Time. 
Chapter    VII.— The   Pleasures  of  Travel. 
Chapter  VIII.— The   Pleasures   of  Home. 
Chapter     IX. —  Science. 
Chapter       X. —  Education. 


*%  Part  Second.— For  the  contents  of  Part  Second  see  No.  Ill  of  this  Catalogue. 
No.  98.  [Special   number,   10   cents. 

COSMIC     EMOTION. -Also,  THE    TEACHING    OF    SCIENCE.- By 

William  Kingdon  Clifford,  F.R.S. 

No.  99]  ~  —  " 

NATURE-STUDIES.  — Four  Essays   by  various   authors,  viz., 

I  — Flame.— By  Prof.  F.  R.  Eaton  Lowe. 

II* —  Birds    of    Passage.— By  Dr.  Robert  Brown.  F.L.S. 

III  — Snow. —  By  George  G.  Chisholm.  F.R.G.S. 

IV  —  Caves.—  By  James  Dallas.  F.L.S. 


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THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


SCIENCE      AND      POETRY,    AND      OTHER      ESSAYS.-By 
Andrew   Wilson,  P.B.8.E. 

I. —  Science    and     Poetry.-  A  Valedictory  Address  t<»  a  Literary  Society. 

H— The    Place,    Method,    and    Advantages    of    Biology    in    Ordi- 
nary   Education. 

III.— Science -Culture     for    the     Masses.  — An  Opening  Lecture  at  a 
"People's  Collegi  ." 

IV— The    Law   of    Likeness,    and    its    Working. 

No.  101. 

AESTHETICS.  -By  James  Bully,  M.a. 


COKTKXTs. 


(A). —  Metaphysical   Problems. 
(B).— Scientific  Problems. 
(0).—  BDstory  of  Systems. 

DREAMS.—  By  James  Sully,  M.a. 


II—  (irrm.'in  Writers  on  -Esthetics. 
IIL— French  Writers  on  -Esthetics. 
IV. —  Italian   and   I»uteh  Writers  on  Esthetics. 

V. —  English  Writers  on  JSetheties. 


Tlie  Dream  us  Immediate  Objective  Experience. 
The  Dream  aa  a  Oommnnication  from  a  Super- 

natural   Keing. 
Modern  Theory  of  Dreams. 


CO  NTENT8. 

The   Sources   of  Dream-Materials. 
The   Order   of   Dream-Corubin.v 
The   Objective  Reality  and   Intensity  of  Dream- 
Imaginations. 


Til    WHICH     IS    ADDED 


ASSOCIATION    OF    IDEAS.— Ky  p>°f-  George  Croom  Robertson. 

No.  102. 

ULTIMATE      FINANCE.- A  True  Theory    ot    Co-operation.- By 

William    Nelson    Black. 

Part  First. 


•r      I. — The  Origin   of   Social    Discontent. 

er   II. — Definition  of  Capital. 
Chapter  111. —  Men   not  Capitalists   beeause   not 

i  hreatOTS   of  Capital. 
I  -r  IV.  —  Soda!  Results  Considered. 

I  r    V. — The  Evolution  of  Finance. 

Chapter  VI. —  Every  Man   his  own  Householder. 


C  O  X  T  E  X  T  S. 

Chapter    VII— Illustrations   from    Real    Life. 
Chapter  Vm.— Effects  of  Material  Growth. 
Chapter     IX — Objections  Answered. 
Chapter       X. — Some   Political   Reflections. 


Appendix.— An  Act  for  the  Incorporation  of 
Bond  Insurant'!-  Companies. 


•.  PabT    SkOOHD.— For  the  contents  of  Part  Second  see  No.  107  of  this  Catalogue 


K 

1- The    Coming   Slavery.- -  The    Sins   of   Legislators.— :;  The    Great 
Political    Superstition.—  Three  Essays  by  Herbert  Spencer. 


TROPICAL     AFRICA.— By  Henry   Drummond,  LL.D.,  P.E.S.E.,  L.G.S. 


COM  T  ENTS. 


I. — The  Watea  the  lb-art  of 

Africa.  — The    Rivers    Zambesi 
and  Shire. 
r   II. —  The  Easl  African  I.;iko  Country. — 
Lakes  Shirwa  and  Nyassa. 

er  UJ. — The  Asj I  of  the  Heart  of  Africa. 

■  ountry  and  Its  People 
Chapter  IV.  —  Th<-  Africa.—  Its 

Pat!  Cure. 


■  r    V.— Wanderings  on  the  Nyassa  T 

yika     Plateau.  —  A     Traveler's 

I  >i.'irv. 

Cliapter     VI.—  The  White  Ant.— A  Theory. 
i  hapter    VII. —  Mimicry. —  The  Ways  of  African 

i  osects. 
Chapter  VIII— A  Geological  Sketch. 
Chapter     IX. —  A  Political  Warning. 
Chapter      X— A  Meteorological  Note. 


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OF    POPULAR    SCIENCE. 


No.  105. 

FREEDOM  IN  SCIENCE  AND  TEACHING.- By  Ernst  Haeckel, 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Jena.  — With  a  Prefatory  Note  by  Professor 
Thomas   Henry  Huxley,  F.R.S. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter     I. —  Development  and  Creation. 
Chapter   II.— Certain  Proofs  of  the  Doctrine  of 

Descent. 
Chapter  in.— The    Sknll    Theory   and   the    Ape 

Theorv. 
Chapter  IV.— The    Cell-Soul    and    the    Cellular 

Psychology. 


The    Genetic    and    the    Dogmatic 
Methods  of  Teaching. 


Chapter  V.- 
Chapter  VI. 
Chapter   VII. — Ignorabimus  et  Restringamur. 


The    Doctrine    of    Descent    and 
Social  Democracy. 


FORCE    AND    ENERGY.-A  Theory  of  Dynamics.- By  Grant  Allen. 


CONTENTS. 
Part  I. —  Abstract  or  Analytic. 


Chapter        I.— Power. 
Chapter       II.— Force. 

Chapter  III.— Energy. 
Chapter     IV.— The  Species  of  Force. 
Chapter       V.— The   Species   of  Energy. 
Chapter     VI.— The  Modes   of  Energy. 

Chapter  VII. — The   Kinds   of  Kinesis. 
Chapter  VIII.— The  Persistence   of  Force. 
Chapter     IX.— The  Conservation  of  Energy. 


Chapter 

Chapter 

Chapter 


X.— The  Indestructibility  of  Power. 
XI.— The     Mutual     Interference     of 

Forces. 
XII.— The  Suppression  of  Energies. 
Chapter  XIII. —  Liberating  Energies. 
Chapter    XIV.— Miscellaneous  Illustrations. 
Chapter      XV. — The   Dissipation  of  Energy. 
Chapter   XVI.— The  Nature  of  Energy. 
Chapter  XVII.— The  Nature  of  Motion. 


Part  n.— Concrete  or  Stnthetic. 


Chapter  I.—  Dvnainical  Formula  of  the  LTni- 

Chapter  II.— The  Sidereal   System.         [verse. 

Chapter  III.— The  Solar  System. 

Chapter  rV— The  Earth. 


Chapter       V. —  Organic  Life. 
Chapter     VI.— The  Vegetal  Organism. 
Chapter    VII.—  The  Animal   Organism.  [gies. 

Chapter  VIII.— General  View  of  Mundane  Ener- 


No.  107. 

ULTIMATE        FINANCE.- A    True    Theory 

William   Nelson   Black. 

Part    Second, 
contents. 


of     Wealth.- By 


Chapter     I.— The  Origin  of  Property. 

Chapter    II.— The   Evolution   of  Wealth. 

Chapter  III.— Banking,  and  its  Relation  to  Accu- 
mulation. 

Chapter  IV. — The  Relation  of  Insurance  to  Accu- 
mulation. 


Chapter  V.— The  Creative  and  Benevolent  Feat- 
ures of  Fortune-Hunting. 

Chapter  VI.— Wealth  an  Enforced  Contributor 
to  the  Public  Welfare. 

Chapter  VII— The  Impairment  and  Destruction 
of  Property. 


Part  First.— For  the  contents  of  Part  First  see  No.  102  of  this  Catalogue. 


No.  108  and  No.  109.  No.  108  is  a  double  number,  30  cents. 

ENGLISH:     PAST    AND     PRESENT— A  Series  of  Eight  Lectures  by 
Richard    Chenevix    Trench,  D.D.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 


Lecture  I.— The  English  Vocabulary. 
Lecture  II.— English  as  it  might  have  been. 
Lecture  III.— Gains  of  the  English  Language. 
Lecture  IV.— Gains  of  the  English  Language 

(continued). 
Lecture    V.— Diminutions  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage. 


CONTENTS. 

Lecture 


VI.—  Diminutions  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage (continued). 

Lecture  VII.— Changes  in  the  Meaning  of  English 
Words. 

Lecture  Vm.— Changes  in  the  Spelling  of  English 
Words. 

Index  of  Subjects.— Index  of  Words  and  Phrases. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


□umber 


THE    STORY    OF   CREATION.    A  Plain  Account  of  Evolution. 
Bj  Edward  Clodd,  author  ol  I  uildhood  of  the  World,"  "The  I 

•  :   Religions,"  "The  Birth  and  Growth  of  Myths,"  Ac, — Eighty  Jlluslt 


c  < »  N  T 


Chapter     1  --Thk   QmvsBSB:    1TB  CONTZi 
•iit.  ii.  Pone. 

j    Power.  b.  Bni 

UBtmoa    or    Mattbb    di 

Sl'M   K. 

Chapter  HI.  -Thi  Bum   ani>  I'i.ankts. 
.  ral   Peatui 

t  IV .— Thk  Past  Libb-Histoby  o»  thi 
Kakth. 
Character  and  Contents  of  Bocks  of 
i.  Primary  Epoch.  Tertiary  Epoch. 

ndary  Epoch.        4.  Quaternary  Epoch, 

V.—  1'UKSKNT     LlBB-FOBMS. 

'    mstituents  and   Unity. 
A. '  Plants. 

•  rless.  '.'.  Flowering, 
nimals. 

1,  Proti  I.  Annulosa. 
.  I  i  lenterata.  5.  Mollusca. 
:;.  Echlnodermata.  0  Vertebrata. 

r     VI.—  Thk    Untvxbsb:    Modi   ob    its 
Becoming  and  Gbowth. 
i    [norganic  Evolution.       .'!.  Evolution    of    tlie 

2.  Evolution  of  thi  Earth, 

lax  83 

Chapter   VII.— Thk  Origin  of  Life. 
Time.  —  Place.—  Mode. 


Chapter  VIII— Thk  <  iuh.in 

Priority  of    Plant  or  Animal. 
Cell-Structure  and  Development. 

Chapter     IX—  Thk  Obigik   OF  8FBCIB8. 

Argument  : 
1.  No  two  individuals  of  the  same  spei 

Bach  tends  to  vary. 
'.'.  Variations  are  transmitted  and  th 

in  become  permanent. 
:i.  Man  takes  advantage  of  these  transmitted  on- 

likenesses  t"  produce  new  variel Les  ■  >)  plants 

Bad  animals. 

4.  More  organisms  are  born  than  survive. 

5.  The  result  Is  obvious:  a  ceaseless  struggle  for 

place  and  food. 

•j.  Natural  selection  tends  to  maintain  the  balance 
between  living  things  and  their  surround- 
ings. These  surroundings  change ;  tl 
living  things  must  adapt  themselves  thereto, 
or  perish. 

Chapter    X.— Pboofb   0»  thk    DERIVATION  of 

1.  Embryology.  t.  Succession  in  Time. 

'_'.  Morphology.  5.  Distribution  i-.  : 

:;.  Classification,  nuns. 

Chapter    XI.— Social  Evolution. 

1,  Evolution  of  Mind.        4.  Evolution  ol  Morals. 

2.  Evolution  of  Society.     5.  Evolution  of 
'.',.  Evolution  of  Language,  ogy. 

Arts,  and  Science.        Summary. 


No.  111. 

THE     PLEASURES 

F.B.S.,    D.C.L.,   LL.D. 


■  r      I.—  Ambition, 
ter  EL— Wealth. 

■  r  III-  Health. 
Chapter  IV. —  Love. 
Chapter  V.—  Art. 

■  t  vi. —  Poetry. 
Chapter  VII—  Music. 


OF     LIFE.—  By  sir  John    Lubbock,  Bart..  M.P. 


Part    Second. 

coxtexts. 

Chapter  Vlil. —  The   Beauties   of  Nature. 
Chapter      IX. -The  Troubles  of  Life. 
•  lhapter       X. —  Labor  and   K>  st 
Chapter     XI. —  Religion. 
Chapter    XII—  The  Hope  of  Progress. 
Chapter  XIII.— The  Destiny  of  Man. 


.",  Part  First.  — For  the  contents  of  Part  First  see  No.  97  of  this  Catalogue. 


No.  11-. 

PSYCHOLOGY 


OF    ATTENTION.— By  Th.  Rlbot.—  Translated  from  the 


French  by  J.  Fitzgerald,  M.a. 


CONTENTS. 


L— Purpose  of  this  treatise;  Btudy  of 
the  mechanism  of  Attention. — 
Attention  defined, 
r  EL— Spontaneous  or  Natural  Attention, 
its  cause  always  affective  states. 
lis  physical  manifestations. — 
Attention  simply  the  subjective 
side  of  the  manifestations  that 
express  it.  —  origin  of  Sponta- 
neous Attention. 
bi  III. —  Voluntary  >ir  Artificial  Attention. 
Bow  it  is  produced, —  The  three 
principal  periods  of  Its  genesis: 


<  liaj»ter  IV 
Chapter   V 


action  of  simple  feelings,  complex 
feelings,  and  habits.— Mi 
of  Voluntary  Attention. —  Atten- 
tion arts  only  upon  the  muscles 
and  through  the  muscles. —  The 
feeling  of  effort 

,— Morbid  States  of  Attention.— Dis- 
traction.—'Hypertrophy  of  Atten- 
tion.—Atrophy  of  Attention. — 
Attention   in   idiots. 

-  -Conclusion.— Attention  dependent 
on  Affective  states. —  Physical 
Condition  of  Attention 


Published    semi-monthly.-  $3  a  year.— Single    numbers,  15   cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  113.  Double  number,  30  cents. 

HYPNOTISM:    ITS    HISTORY  AND    PRESENT   DEVELOPMENT. 

By  Fredrik  Bjornstrom,  M.D.,  Head  Physician  of  the  Stockholm  Hospital, 
Professor  of  Psychiatry,  late  Royal  Swedish  Medical  Councillor. —  Authorized 
Translation  from  the  Second  Swedish  Edition,  by  Baron  Nils  Posse,  M.G-., 
Director  of  the  Boston  School  of  Gymnastics. 

CONTEXTS. 


I. — Historical  Retrospect. 
II. —  Definition  of  Hypnotism. —  Susceptibility  to 

Hypnotism, 
ni. —  Means"  or  Methods  of  Hypnotizing. 
IV. —  Stages  or  Degrees  of  Hypnotism. 
V. —  Unilateral   Hypnotism. 
VI. — Physical  Effects  of  Hypnotism. 


VII.—  Psychical  Effects  of  Hypnotism. 
VIII. —  Suggestion. 

IX. — Hypnotism  as  a  Remedial  Agent. 
X. —  Hypnotism  as  a  Means  of  Education,  oi 
as  a  Moral   Remedy. 
XL — Hypnotism   and   the  Law. 
XII. —  Misuses   and   Dangers  of  Hypnotism. 
Bibliography  of   Hypnotism." 


No.  114.  Double  number,  30  cents. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND    AGNOSTICISM.-A  Controversy -Consisting 

of  papers  contributed  to  The  Nineteenth  Century  by  Henry  Wage,  D.D..  Prof. 
Thomas  H.  Huxley,  The  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  W.  H.  Mallock.  Mrs. 
Humphry  Ward. 


contents. 


I.  —  On    Agnosticism.  —  Bv   Henry    Wace, 
D.D..   Prebendary  of  "St.  Paul's   Cathe- 
dral :  Principal  of"  King's  College.  London. 
II. —  Agnosticism — By  Professor  Thomas  H. 

Hcxley. 
III.—  Agnosticism — a  Replv  to  Prof.  Huxley. 
By  Henry  Wace,  D.'D. 

IV— Agnosticism By  W.   C.   Magee,   D.D., 

Bishop  of  Peterborough. 
V.— Agnosticism — A   Rejoinder.  —  By   Prof. 

Thomas  H.  Hcxley. 
VT. —  Christianity    and     Agnosticism. —  Bv 
Heney  Wace,  D.D. 


vn. 

VIII.. 

IX.- 

X. 

XI. 


-An  Explanation  to  Prof.  Hiixlev. — 

By  W.  C.  Magee.  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Peter- 
borough. 
-The  Value  of  Witness  to  the  Mirac- 
ulous.—By.  Prof.  Thomas  H.  Hcxley. 

-Agnosticism    and  Christianity. — By 

Prof.  Thomas  H.  Huxley. 

-"Cowardly    Agnosticism." — A  Word 
with  Prof.  Huxley. -By  W.H. Mallock. 

-The     New    Reformation. —  Bv    Mrs. 
Humphry  Ward. 


No.  115  and  No.  116. 


Two  double  numbers.  30  cents  each- 


DARWINISM:  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  THEORY  OF  NATURAL 
SELECTION,  with  some  of  its  applications.  — By  Alfred  Russel 
Wallace,  LL.D.,  P.L.S.,  &c— With  Portrait  of  the  Author,  Colored  Map,  and 
numerous  illustrations. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. — What  are  "Species,"  and  what  is 
meant  bv  their  "  Origin." 

Chapter     H.— The  Struggle  for  Existence. 

Chapter  HI.— The  Variability  of  Species  in  a 
State  of  Nature. 

Chapter  IV. — Variation  of  Domesticated  Animals 
and  Cultivated  Plants. 

Chapter  V.— Natural  Selection  by  Variation  and 
Survival  of  the  "Fittest. 

Chamer    VT.— Difficulties   and   Objections. 

Chapter  VII.— On  the  Infertility  of  Crosses  be- 
tween Distinct  Species,  and  the 
usual  Sterility  of  their  Hybrid 
Offspring. 


Chapter  VOL—  The  Origin  and  Uses  of  Color  in 
Animals. 

Chapter      LX. — Warning  Coloration  and  Mimicry. 

Chapter  X. —  Colors  and  Ornaments  character- 
istic of  Sex. 

Chapter  XL— The  Special  Colors  of  Plants.— 
Their  Origin  and  Purpose. 

Chapter  XII.— The  Geographical  Distribution  of 
Organisms. 

Chapter  XIIL— The  Geological  Evidences  of  Evo- 
lution. 

Chapter  XIV.—  Fundamental  Problems  in  Rela- 
tion to  Variation  and  Heredity. 

Chapter    XV. —  Darwinism  applied  to  Man. 


A  *  ^'v  PJf8611^  ^ork  treats  the  problem  of  the  Origin  of  Species  on  the  same  general  lines  as  were 
adopted  I >y  Darwin:  but  from  the  standpoint  reached  after  nearly  thirty  years  ol  discussion  with  an 
abundance  of  new  facts  and  the  advocacy  of  many  new  or  old  theories. 

While  not  attempting  to  deal,  even  in  outline,  with  the  vast  subject  of  evolution  in  general,  an 
endeavor  has  been  made  to  give  such  an  account  of  the  theory  of  Natural  Selection  as  may  enato 
intelligent  reader  to  obtain  a  clear  conception  of  Darwin's  work,  and  to  understand  something  of  the 
power  and  range  of  his  great  principle—  Extract  from  the  Preface. 


THE    HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING   CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


S'..    ii7.  'i kmbla  Dumber,  :t<> 

MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.  A  Clear  and 
Concise  View  of  the  Principal  Results  of  Modern  Science, 
and  of  the  Revolution  which  they  have  effected  in  Modern 
Thought.     By  B.   Laiko. 

Part   I. 
MODERN      BCIENCB. 


0  O  N  T  I : 
I     rotes  L— Space 

leM     Nnturnl    StninUriU-Dlmrnsloiia  of  the 
Earth— Of  Son  and  8olar  System— Distanci     • 

rrdi  r  mi, I    Sir.-     Nebula   mi,l  Other   I'nin  I 

the  lniinii.lv  Great    The  Microscope  and  the 

Uniformity  of  Leu     Lew  of  Gravity    Acta 

tbrougl  I   Meteors— 11m 

Chapter  II— Time. 
Gcologi    Btrattficatlon    Denudation    Btrata 

-  iperpoeition     I  ■ .  -    l  ■     Dglca     B I 

■hown  b)  l  pturned  Btrata    General  Beault— Pslaeosoii   and 
Primer]  Seconder)      rertiarj      rime   required 

t'oal  Formation    'hulk    Elevations  and  Depreadona  of  Land 
i  ol  the  Knrth    Earthquake!  »n.l  Volcanoes 
>a  and  Flora— Aatronomlcal  Time— Tides  and 
the  Moo      Bun  -  Radiation    Barth't  Cooling— Geology  and 
Bearing!  on  Modern  Thought 

Chapter  III.—  Matter. 

r  i,n,i  Seal    Matter  and  its  Elements 

Bpectroacope    Uniformity  of  Matter 

throughout  the  Universe    Force  nmi  Motion    Conservation 

triclty,   Magnetism,  nnii  Chemical  Action— 

Dissipation  .  i  He  al    Birth  and  Death  of  Worlds. 

Chapter  IV.— lite. 
Ess. :  mplest  form.  Protoplasm — Monem  and 

Animal  and  vegetable  Lif<     Spontaneous  Genera 
tinn — Dei  ol  Species  from  Primitive  Cella    Super- 

natural Theory    Zoological  Province!    Separate  Creations 
Law  or  Miracle    Darwinian  Theor]     Btruggle  for  Life    Bui 

rival  of  thi   I  -mi.   I     Dei , it  and  Design     Hie  Hand 

Proof  required  to  eatabllah  Darwin's  Theory  an  h  Law    Bpei  i1 1 
Hybrids    Mansubject  to  Lau 


NTS. 

Chapter  V. —  Antiqnlty  of  Man. 

■  -    . 

r..\.  riea    '  kmfirmi  .1  b)  It.  stw  Cure  of  In 

i  .its.  s<  rapi  r«.  and  Flakea    Human  *—>'■"  In  Bivi 

Great  Antiquity    Implements  from  Drill  al  Bonn  i 
Bone<avea    Kent'sCavern    \i,  t'-mt  <;,,\*<  r  r. 

of  Prance  ami  Belgium    Agi  i   Marti 

■  until,  nnii  bV  Mi.i. .  r    Artumi  Baa     Drawings  of  Man 
a,      Human  Types    Neanderthal,  Cro-Magnon,  Fort 

Attempts  to  fix  Dates— History— Bn  ithic— 

Iianish  Kiii  hm  mldrtrns    Rwiss  I.akri  dwrlllna, 
i  s ... i     i,  Causes  of  Glaciers    Croll's Theory —Gulf 

Btreem    Dates  of  Glacial  Period    Biae  ami  Bui rax 

Land— Tertiary    Man    Bocene    Period    Miocene    I 

for  Pliocene  ami  Miocene  Muu— Conclusions  as  to  Antlqnit] 


Chapter    VI.—  Man's   Place   in   Nature. 

Origin  of  Man  from  ai      ■-  ither  Mammals 

,  .inn,  nt  of  the  Embryo    Backbone    Bys  ami  other  organs  of 
Sense    Flab,  Beptile,  and  Mammalian  sta», 

uitli  Apes  nn.l   Uonke]  a — G<  rim  of  lluninn  Facnltn  ■ 
imnle- The  Dog—  Insecta— Helpleaaneaa  of  lluninn  Infant  - 

■     Heredltyaud  Evolution     i  bi  MlaelngLI    - 
,,i  m,  n    i.,  ading  rypea  and  Vai  ■ 

tanl     Language-   How  Formed    Grammar — Chinese.  Aryan 
Semitic,  fee.    Conclusions   from    Language    Bvolul 
Antiquity  — Belisiona  of  Bavage  Baces-  Ghosts  and  B 
Anthropomorphic   Deltiei    Traces  hi  Neolithic  and 
Hthic  Times    Develomnent_by  Evolution    Primltlvi   Arts 

i 


foola  ami  Weapona  -  Kin--  Flint  Implements — Progress  from 
•iiLvoiitiiir  to  N  coUthlc  Times    Domestic  Animals  -<  loth] 


i  irnamenta    Conclusion,  Man  a  Product  of  Evolution 


-' 


No.  118.  [Single  number,  15  ceuts. 

MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.-With  a  Sup- 
plemental Chapter  on  Gladstone's  "Dawn  of  Creation"  and 
"Proem  to  Genesis,"  and  on  Drummond's  "Natural  Law  in 
the   Spiritual   World."— By  B.  Laiho. 

Part    II. 
MODERN      THOUGHT. 


ENTS. 

Chapter   IX.— Christianity  Without   Miracles. 

Practical  nnd  Theoretical  Christianity —  Example  an, I 
Teaching  of  Christ  Christian  Dogma— Moral  ObJectKN 
consistent  with  Pacta— Must  be  accepted  an  Parabli 
and  Bedeuiutiuu— Old  Creeds  mast  be  Transformed  i 
Mohammedanism— Decay  of  Faith— Halance  of  Advai 
Beligknu  War*  ami  Persecutions— Intolerance  Bai 
Prayer— Ahai-iice  of  Theology  In  Synoptic  G  * 
Pole  to  Christianity— Courage  ami  Self-reliance  Bi 
<;...!  nn, l  a  Future  Life— Based  Mainly  on  Christianitj 
nil','  gives  no  Answer  Nor  Metaphysics  So-called  Iustitu- 
tlona  i1 
Chriatlanil . 

ton  and  Bdence 


Answer    Nor  Metaphysics    So-called 
■  i.iit  of  Idea  of  God  -Best  Proof  an 
runty    Evolution  is  Transforming  it    Beconi 


con1: 

Chapter  VII.—  Modern  Thought. 
Lines  fr< -in  Tennyson    The  Gospel  >.f  Modern  Thought 
exemplified  by  Carlyle,  Kenan,  mnl  George  BUol 
as  universal    Attitude  of  Orthodox  writers— 

Cause   nnknowahh — New   Philosophies 

Herbert    Bpencer  ami  Agnosticism    Comte 

i  Ism       M.-rnionism  —  Spiritualism  — 

Dreams    and    Visions— Soiiinamhiiham  — Mesmerism    Great 

Thinkers — Carlyle— Hero-worship, 

( ihaptex  V 1 1 1 .  —  M  i  nicies. 

Origin  of  Belief  in  the  Supernatural-  Thunder  Belief  In 

Mirarl'f  fi  rn  i  rlj  Universal    Bt  Paul's  Testimony    Now  In- 

ractes    Apparent  Miracles  -Beal  Mir- 

aVl.n—  Worthy  Miracles    The  Resurrection 

and  Ascension     Nature  ol  Bvldeno   required    Ins,, 

l  he  Gospi  Is    Wnal 

is  Rn.  ..  I  ill.'  Synoptii    Gospels    Bes lances 

i  ces— Their  Origin     Papis 

'•  itthi  a    Mark,  ami   Luki 

ired   with  one    i ther  ami  with  Bt    John 

Hopelei  acle  of  the  Ascension    Silenci 

of  Mark— Probable  Earl)  Dab  Bui  not  In  their 

SUPPLEMENTAL  Ohaptxb.  -Gladstone's  "Dawn  of  Creation"  and  "Proem  to  Genesis."— Drum- 
Natural   Law  iii   the  Spiritual  VVorld." 

Publisliecl    semi-montlily.—  $3   a  year.—  Single    numbers,  15  cents. 


Chapter  X.— Practical  Life. 
Conscience     Eight   is   Bight     Self-reverence     i  oarage — 
Beapectablllty— Influence  ,.f  Press    Respect    for   wo 
Self-respect  of  Nations— Democracy  ami  [mperiausn 
knowledge    Conceit— Lnck  — Speculation     Hone]  mal 
Practical  Alms  of  Life    Self-control    Conflict  ol  Bes 
Instinct     Temper     Manners     il  Is  in  Youth— Suc- 

cess in  Practical  Life— Education— Stoicism— Conclusion. 


OF    POPULAR    SCIENCE. 


THE    ELECTRIC    LIGHT.- How  the  Electric  Current  is  Produced. 
How  the  Electric  Current  is  made  to  yield  the  Electric  Light. 

By   Gerald    Molloy,    D.D.,    D.Sc,    Fellow   of    the    Royal    University.— With 
numerous    illustrations. 

CONTENTS. 


I.— How  the   Electric   Current   is   Produced. 

First  Discovery  of  Induced  Currents— Faraday's  Exper- 
iments described  and  repeated— First  machines  lounded  on 
Faraday's  discovery —  Pixii.  Saxton.  Clarke  —  New  torm  ot 
Armature  invented  by  Siemens— Machines  of  the  Alliance 
Company  in  France  and  of  Holmes  in  England  —  Wilde's 
machine—  A  new  principle  discovered  —  Ladd's  machine— 
The  machines  of  Gramme  and  Siemena— Ideal  ske  eton  of 
liramme's  machine— The  principle  of  its  action  explained— 
Details  of  construction— The  Volta  Prize  awarded  to  Gramme 
for  his  invention— The  machine  of  Siemens,  how  it  differs 
from  that  of  Gramme— Most  other  machines  constructed  on 
one  or  other  of  these  two  types— The  dynamo  does  not  create 
energy,  but  converts  mechanical  energy  into  electrical  energy. 


II.—  How  the  Electric  Current  is  made  to  yield 
the  Electric  Light. 
Simplest  form  of  Electric  Light— Principle  of  the  Electric 
Liglit— Sir  Humphry  Davy's  experiment— 1  wo  types  of  Elec- 
tric Light— The  Arc  Liglit— Duboscq's  Lamp— New  forma  of 
ArcLamp— The. Jabloehkort  Candle— The  Incandescent  Liglit 
—Platinum  Spiral— Why  Carbon  is  preferred  to  Platinum  - 
A  perfect  vacuum— Elements  of  Incandescent  Lamp— Prep- 
aration of  the  filament— Edison's  process— Swan's  process- 
Carbonization  of  the  filament— Exhaustion  of  the  glass  glooe 
— Light  without  heat— The  Arc  Light  and  the  Incandescent 
Light  compared— Comparison  with  other  kinds  of  light— How 
far  the  Electric  Light  is  now  available  for  use—  Transforma- 
tions of  Energy  illustrated  by  the  Electric  Light. 


THE    STORING 

Progress    and 

same  author. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 

OF   ELECTRICAL 

Development    of   the 

With   numerous    illustrations. 


ENERGY.-The    Recent 
Storage    Battery— By  the 


CONTENTS. 


A  "marvelous  box  of  electricity"— What  is  meant  by  the 
storing  of  energy— Examples  of  energy  stored  up— A  sus- 
pended weight— A  watchspring  wound  up— A  stretched  cross- 
bow—A flywheel— Energy  stored  up  in  clouds  and  rivers- 
Energy  stored  up  in  a  coal-mine— Energy  stored  up  in  sep- 
arated gases— Storing  of  electrical  energy  not  a  new  idea— 
Energy  stored  up  in  a  Leyden  jar— In  a  thunder-cloud— In  a 
voltaic  battery— Principle  of  the  storage  battery— Experiment 
showing  production  of  secondary  current— Gradual  develop- 


ment of  the  principle— Eitter's  secondary  pile— Grove's  gas- 
battery— Experiments  of  Gaston  Plante— The  Plante  second- 
ary cell— Faure's  improvement— What  a  storage  battery  can 
do — Practical  illustrations— Convenience  of  the  storage  bat- 
tery for  the  production  of  the  electric  light— The  storage  bat- 
tery as  a  motive  power— Application  of  the  storage  battery  to 
tram-cars  and  private  carriages— The  storage  battery  on  its 
triaL 


RECENT  PROGRESS  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  STORAGE  BATTERY. 


Unexpected  difficulties— Modifications  of  the  Faure  cell- 
Internal  resistance  diminished— New  mode  of  preparing  the 
plates— An  alloy  substituted  for  pure  lead— The  paste  of  lead 
oxide— Improved  method  of  maintaining  insulation  of  the 


plates— Newest  form  of  cell— Buckling  of  the  plates— The 
available  energy  of  a  cell— Kate  at  which  the  energy  can  be 
drawn  off— Application  to  tram-cars  and  to  electric  lighting. 


THE    MODERN    THEORY   OF   HEAT,  as   Illustrated   by  the   Phe- 
nomena  of   the    Latent    Heat   of    Liquids    and    of  Vapors.— By 

Gerald    Molloy,   D.D.,  D.Sc.,  Fellow  of   the    lioyal    University.— With  nu- 
merous   illustrations. 

CONTENTS 
I.  — The  Latent  Heat  of  Liquids. 
Modern  theory  of  heat— Heat  a  form  of  Energy— Familiar 
illustrations  —  Count  Kuraford's  experiment  —  Argument 
founded  on  the  experiment— Heat  produced  by  expenditure 
of  Electrical  Energy— Latent  Heat— Black's  experiments- 
Heat  disappears  when  ice  is  melted— Explanation  of  this  fact 
according  to  the  old  theory— Explanation  offered  by  tie-  him] 
erntheorv  —  Latent  Heat  varies  for  different  liquids— Freezing 
mixtures— Heat  developed  when  a  liquid  becomes  solid- 
Water  heated  in  freezing— Experiment  with  solution  of  sul- 
phate of  soda— Latent  Heat  in  the  economy  of  Nature. 


II.— The  Latent  Heat  of  Vapors. 

neat  expended  when  water  is  boiled— This  fact  considered 
hi  the  light  of  the  modern  theory— Method  of  measuring  the 
quantity  of  heat  so  expended— Heat  developed  when  steam  is 
condensed  -Experimental  illustration— Heating  of  buildings 
by  steam— Heat  expended  in  evaporation— Various  illustra- 
tions—Cold  produced  by  evaporation  of  ether— Water  frozen 
by  evaporation— Leslie's" experiment— Cri ire's  apparatus— Pro- 
duction of  solid  carbonic  acid— Freezing  of  mercury— Latent 
Heat  of  clouds— Effect  in  the  economy  of  Nature— Summary. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 


THE    SUN    AS    A    STOREHOUSE    OF    ENERGY.- Immensity   of 
the   Sun's   Energy- Source   of  the  Sun's   Energy- By  the  same 

author. —  With   numerous    illustrations. 


CO  NT 

I.— Immensity  of  the  Sun's  Energy. 

Nearly  all  the  energy  available  to  man  is  derived  from  the 
sun  —Water-power— "vt  ind-power —  Steam-power — Muscular 

power— Electrical  power— Tidal  power  an  exception— Energy 
of  the  tides  derived  from  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis- 
Only  a  small  fraction  of  the  energy  which  the  earth  derives 
from  the  sun  is  used  by  man  — And  the  energy  which  the 
earth  receives  is  only  a  small  fraction  of  what  the  sun  sends 
forth— Measurement  of  energy  sent  ont  by  the  sun— Exper- 
iments of  I'ouillet  and  Herschel  —  Apparatus  employed  — 
Metl  I'  adjustment— Observations  made— Corrections- 
Practical  estimate  of  the  energy  sent  out  by  the  sun— What 
a  wonderful  storehouse  of  energy  the  sun  must  be— How  is 
this  storehouse  supplied' 


ENTS. 

II.—  Source  of  the  Sun's  Energy. 

The  sun  is  not  a  great  fire -Such  a  fire  would  be  choked  by 
the  products  of  combustion— And  besides  it  would  be  burned 
.nit  in  coarse  of  time—  Difference  between  incandescence  and 
combustion— Practical  illustrations— How  the  sun  is  main- 
tained  in  a  state  "t"  Incandescence— Theory  of  Sir  William 
Thomson— Meteors  or  Falling  Stars- Heat  develop 
such  bodies  lull  into  the  sun- Illustration  from  a  bullet  strik 
ing  a  target— This  theory  now  abandoned— Theory  of  Helm- 
holtz— Heat  of  the  sun  produced  bj  compression  of  his  mass 
Beat  lost  by  radiation  is  restored  bj  further  compression— 
This  theory  probable  and  sufficient- I  Nebular 

Hypothesis'— The  past  energy  of  the  sun— Summary. 


THE   HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING   CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place.  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


UTILITARIANISM.  S       '-|    Mill,  author  of  "A  System  ■ 

"Principles  ol    Political   Economy,"  "On   Liberty,"  &c. 


I   I.  N  T  ; 


■■  r     I! .-   What    Utilitarianism 

•  r  ill.—  Of  i  tion  of  the 

I'm.  iity. 


Chapter  IV.— Of  what  sorl  of  I  uciple 

of  i  tility  la  raaeepl I 

Chapter    V.— Of  the  Connection  bet* 
and  Utility. 


• 


No.  122  It 


able  Dumb 


30 


UPON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    ALPINE    AND    ITALIAN     LAKES;    AND 
UPON    GLACIAL    EROSION.     By  Sir  A.  C.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  Pre« 

gical  Society.-  John  Ball,  M.B.I.A.,  F.L.S.,&c— Sir  Roderick  I. 
Murchtson,   F.R.S.,   D.C.L.,   President   of   the   Royal  Geographical   Society.— 
Prof.  B.  Sttjder,  of  Berne.— Prof.  A.  Favre,  of  Geneva. — Edward  Why.-: 
With  an  Introduction  and  Notes  upon  the  i  hrigis  and  History  of  the  On 
North  America,  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Spencer,  State  Geologist  of  Georgia. 

CO  NT  E  N  T  s. 


introduction,  wil  on  the  Origin  and 

History  of  the  ■     •  North  America. — 

Ph.D     F.G.8     31        logist 

irgia 
I. —  On  the  < ;  1 ; i ■  - i .•  1 1  Origin  oi  Certain  Lakes  in 
erland     the    Black    Forest,   Great    Britain, 
.    North  America   and  Elsewhere. —  By  Sir 
A   C.  Ramsay,  F.K.s..  Presidenl  of  the  Geological 
- 
II.— <>n  the  Fori  Upine  Valleys  and 

Lakes. —  By    John     Ball,    M.  R.I.  A., 
-    &c. 
III. —  Glaciers  "i'  the  Himalayan  Mountains  and 
|       /•  aland  compared  with  those  of  Europe.— 
On  the  Powers  of  Glaciers  in  Modifying  tliu  Sur- 


face of  the  Earth,  and  In  the  ngency  of  F 
Icebergs. —  By  sir  RODERICK  I.  Muai 
K  < Mi.     [m|..    y  R  g.,  Sec 

IV.— (in  the  Origin  of  the  Swiss   Lakes.— By 
Prof.  Ii.  Studkr,  of   Berne. 

V. —  i>ii  the  Origin  ,,(•   the  Alpine  Laki 
Valleys,     a  letter  addressed  to  sir  Sodxrii  k  I. 
Murchison,  K  C.B    l'  i '  L.  &c,  by  M.  Alphonsk 
Favre,  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Academy  of 
Geneva,  author  of  the  Geological  Map  of  Savoy. 

VI. —  The  Ancient  Glaciers  of  Aosta. —  By  ED- 
WARD WhYMPSR. 

VII. —  Glacial  Erosion  in  Norway  and  in  High 
Latitudes.— By  Professor  J.  W.  Spe* 
F.G.S    State  I  h  oli  -•:-•  oi  Gh  "rtda. 


No.  124. 

THE    QUINTESSENCE    OF    SOCIALISM- By  Dr.  A.  ScBA^OTJS.-Trans- 

lated  from  the  eighth  German  edition  under  the  supervision  of  Bernard  Bosan- 

qxjet.  M.A.,  formerly  Fellow  of  University  College,  Oxford. 


CONTENTS. 


ter  I.— First   Outlines   or  mas   Funda- 
mental Idea  or  Socialism. 

Chanter   II.  —  The    MEANS    OF  AGITATION. 
The  Socialistic  criticism  of  capital. —  Pn 
'appropriation  of  surplus  value." — Property  as 
•   Interpretations  "f  these  allegations 
—Ultimate    buying-out   of    the    modern 
ats. 

UX— Proposed  Transformation  of 
thk  several  Fundamental  [nstitutionb  or 
Modern  National  Economy. 

rminationof  demand.— Freedom  of  demand 
i  hrganization  of  labor  and  capital  Into  a  system  of 
collective  production.— False  interpretations  re- 
futed.—  The  doctrine  of  value  as  depending  on 
abor-cosl  useless  for  a  practical  organiza- 
tion of  labor  and  capital. 

Chapter  rv.— Transformation   or  Institu- 
tions (continued). 
Abolition  of  nil  loan-capital,  of  credit  of  lease, 
and  of  ih"  exchange. 

•  r  V.  —  Transformation   or  Institv- 
tiiins  (continued). 

Abolition  of  1 


market  for  them,  and  of  the  system  of  advertise- 
menl  and  of  display  of  wares. 

Chapter  VI.  —  Transformation  of  Institu- 
tions [continued.) 
Abolition  of  metallic  money  as  the  mt-ilhmi  of 
exchange,  and  its  replacement  as  "standard  of 
value"  by  units  of  "social  labor-timi 
money").    The  value-estimate  of  tb    - 
Stale  compared  with  the  present  market-price. 

Chapter  VIL —  Transformation  or  Institu- 
tions [continued.) 
The  Socialistic  determination  of  value  in  ex- 
change,  and  freedom  of  labor  in  the  Socialistic 
State. 

•  banter  VTU. — TRANSFORMATION  <>V  INSTITU- 
TIONS !'•'  ntinued). 
Income,  anil  the  use  ol  income  in  the  formation 
of  property,  and  In  consumption  —  Private  prop- 
erty and  the  law  affecting  it. —  Family  lit',-  and 
marriage. —  Savings-hanks  and  Insurance  - 
Expenditure  on  charitable,  humanitarian,  religious, 
and  other  ideal  pun 

i  hapter  l.\—  < Ionclusion. 
Summary  of  cri1 


Published    semi-montnly.     $3  a  year.—  Single     numbers.  15   cents. 


OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


No.  125. 

DARWINISM     AND     POLITICS.— By  David  G.  Ritchie,  M.A.,  Fellow  and 
Tutor  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford. 


CONTENTS. 


Huxley  and  Strauss. —  Ambiguity  of 
Conscious  "Variations." 


Nature."— 


"The  Struggle  for  Existence  "in  Malthus  and 
Darwin. —  How  the  idea  is  applied  to  politics. — Is 
the  struggle  "beneficent"? 

The  Evolution  Theory  as  applied  to  Human  So- 
ciety by  Darwin,  Strauss,  Spencer,  Maine,  Clodd. 

Ambiguity  of  the  phrase  •Survival  of  the  Fit- 
test."—  Complexity  of  Social  Evolution. 

Does  the  Doctrine  of  Heredity  support  Aristoc- 
racy ? 

Does  the  Evolution  Theory  justify  Laissez  faire  ? 
Struggle  between  ideas  for  survival. —  Conscious- 
ness as  a  factor  in  Evolution. — Testimony  of  Prof. 

TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED 

ADMINISTRATIVE     NIHILISM.-By  Prof.  Thomas  Henry  Huxley,  F.R.S. 


Why  fix  ideas  in  institutions?  —  Custom:  its  use 
and  abuse. —  Institutions  and  "the  social  factor" 
generally  are  neglected  in  the  popular  acceptation 
of  the  doctrine  of  Heredity. —  Mr.  Galton's  views 
considered. —  Darwin's  own  opinion. 

Are  the  Biological  Formula?  adequate  to  express 
Social  Evolution  ? 

Applications— (1)  The  Labor  Question. — (2)  The 
Position  of  Women. — (3)  The  Population  Question. 


No.  126  and  No.  127.  [Two  double  numbers,  30  cents  each. 

PHYSIOGNOMY    AND     EXPRESSION  -By  Paolo  Mantegazza,  Senator; 

Director  of  the  National  Museum  of  Anthropology,  Florence ;   President  of  the 

Italian  Society  of  Anthropology. 


Part  I.- 


contents. 
•The  Human  Countenance. 


Chapter  I. —  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Science 
of  Physiognomy  and  of  Human 
Expression. 

Chapter    II. —  The  Human   Face. 

Chapter  III. —  The  Features  of  the  Human  Face. 


Chapter  IV.—  The  Hair  and  the  Beard. 
Wrinkles. 


•Moles. 


Chapter    V. —  Comparative    Morphology   of    the 
Human  Face. 


Part  II.— The  Expression  op  Emotions. 


Chapter     VI. —  The  Alphabet  of  Expression. 

Chapter    VII. — The  Darwinian  Laws  of  Expression 

Chapter  VIII. —  Classification  of  Expressions. — 
General  View  of  all  Phenomena 
of  Expression. 

Chapter     IX. — The  Expression  of  Pleasure. 

Chapter       X. —  The  Expression  of  Pain. 

Chapter  XI. —  Expression  of  Love  and  of  Benev- 
olence. 

Chapter  XII. —  Expression  of  Devotiou.  of  Ven- 
eration, and  of  Religious  Feeling. 

Chapter  XIII. —  Expression  of  Hatred,  of  Cruelty, 
and  of  Passion. 

Chapter  XIV. —  The  Expression  of  Pride,  Vanity, 
Haughtiness,  Modesty,  and  Hu- 
miliation. 

Chapter  XV. —  Expression  of  Personal  Feelings. 
Fear, Distrust. — Desci'iptinn  of 
Timidity,  according  to  the  old 
Physiognomists. 


Chapter     XVI.—  The  Expression  of  Thought. 

Chapter  XVII. —  General  Expressions. —  Repose 
and  Action,  Disquietude.  Im- 
patience, Expectation,  Desire. 

Chapter  XVIII.—  Racial  and  Professional  Ex- 
pression. 

Chapter  XIX. —  The  Moderators  and  Disturbers 
of  Expression. 

Chapter  XX. —  Criteria  for  the  Determination 
of  the  Strength  of  an  Emotion 
by  the  degree  of  the  Expression 

Chapter  XXI.  —  The  Five  Verdicts  on  the  Human 
Face. 

Chapter  XXII. —  Criteria  forjudging  the  Moral 
Worth  of  a  Physiognomy. 

Chapter  XXIII. —  Criteria  for  Judging  the  Intel- 
lectual Value  of  a  Face. 

Chapter  XXTV. —  The   Physiognomy   of   Gestures 

and  the  Expression  of  Clothes. 

Appendix.— The  Eyes,  Hair,  and  Beard,  in  the 

Italian  Races. 


This  work,  by  Professor  Mantegazza,  a  brilliant  and  versatile  author,  and  the  leading  Italian  anthro- 
pologist, has  already  been  translated  into  several  European  languages.  Professor  Mantegazza,  whose 
name  is  well  known  to  readers  of  Darwin,  has  cooperated  in  the  present  English  edition  of  his  work  by 
writing  a  new  chapter  specially  for  it. 


THE    HUMBOLDT  PUBLISHING   CO.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


.1  \. 


Two  double   num   ■       80 


THE       INDUSTRIAL     REVOLUTION      OF     THE      EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY    IN     ENGLAND.     PopnUr  Addresses,  Notes,  and  other  Frag- 
By  the   late  Arnold   Toykbu,  Tutor  of   Balliol   College,  Oxford. — 
Together  with  s  Bhort  memoir  by  B.  Jowstt,  Master  of  Balliol  I  izford. 

OONT  EM  T  s. 


Ricabdo  and  tiik  Old  Political  Economy. 


The  change  thai  bu  come  over  Political  Econ- 
omy.— EUcardo  responsible  for  the  form  of  thai 
la  great  Inflaence.— The 
■sumptions  of  his  treatise. —  EUcardo 
i.t  of   tin-   nature  of    bla  own    method. — 
Malthus's  protest. —  Limitations  of  EUcardo 
Trine  recognised  by  Mill  and  Senior.— Observation 
iraged  by  the  Deductive  Method.— The  effect 
Labor  Movement  on  Economies. — afodiflca- 

t  the  Sdei byrecenl  writers.—  The  new 

i  of  < nomic  investigation. 


II. 


The  philosophic  aesumptions  of  Ricardo.— They 
nr<.  derived  from  Adam  smith. —  The  worship  of 
individual  liberty. —  It  involves  freedom  of  com 
petition  and  removal  of  Industrial  restrict! 
The  flaw  in  tins  theory. —  It  is  confirmed  by  the 

doctru f  the  Identity  of  individual  and  social 

ts.— Criticism  of  this  doctrine.— The  idea 
nt"  Invariable  law. — True  nature  of  economic  laws. 
Laws  and  Precepts.— The  great  charge  brought 
against  Political  Economy, —  Its  truth  and  its 
falsehood. 


Tiik    [NDUBTRIAL    RXVOLI  TIOK. 


L—  Introductory. 
LL— England  In  1760.- 
HL— England  in  1760.- 
rv.— England  In,  1760.- 

V. —  England  in  1760.- 

Yeomanry. 
VI. — England  in  1760.— The  Condition  of  the 
Wage-earners. 


-Population. 
•Agriculture.      [Trade. 
-Manufactures  and 
-The  Decay  of  the 


VII. —  The  Mercantile  System  and  Adam  Smith. 
VIII.  —  The  Chief  Features  «,f  the  Revolution. 
IX.  —  The  Growth  of  Pauperism, 
X. —  Malthus  and  the   Law  of  Population. 
XL— The  Wage- fund  Theory. 
XII. —  Ricardo  and  the  Growth  of  Rent. 
XIII. — Two  Theories  oi   Economic  Progi 
XIV. —  The  Future  of  the  Working  Classes. 


Popular  Addresses. 

1.  Wage8  and   Natural   Law. 

2.  Industry  and  Democracy. 
.':.  Are  Radicals  Socialist 


The  Education  of  Co-operators. 

The  Ideal  Relation  of  Church  and  Si 

Notes  and  Jottings. 


No.  130  and  Xn.  131.                                                                          [Two  double  numbers,  :*0  cents  each. 
THE      ORIGIN       OF      THE      ARYANS.--^      A ant    of    the    Prehistoric 

Ethnology  and  Civilization  of  Europe.— By  Isaac  Taylor,  M.A.,  Litt.  D.,  Bon. 

LL.D. —  Illustrated. 

CONTENTS. 


i.ter   I.  — The  Aryan   Controversy. 

Chapter  II. —  The   Prehistoric   Races  of  Europe. 
Neolithic  Age  i.  The  Celts. 

Methods  of  An-        5.  The  Iberians, 
thropology.  6.  The  Scandinavians. 

Britain.      7.  The  Ligurians. 

pter   III.  — The   Neolithic  Culture. 
1.  The  Continuity  of  De-      7.  Dress. 

)-.   Hal. nations. 

Q.  The   Boat 
:.  Weapons.  10.  The  Ox-Wagon. 

1.   Catl  11.  Trades. 

5,  Husbandry.  12,  Soda]  Life, 

,;.  Pood.  13.  Relative  Progress. 


Chapter  IV. — The  Aryan   Ri 

1.  The  Permaneni i   Ri 

2,  The  Mutability  of  Language. 
:'..  The   Finnie    Hypothi 

4.  The  Basques. 

5.  The  Northern   Races. 

Chapter  V.— The  Evolution  of  Aryan  Speech. 
l.  The  Aryan  Languages. 
-.  Dialect  and  Lang 
.;.  The  Lost    Aryan   Lang  i 
•I.  The  Wave-Theory. 
5.  Language  and  Race. 

Aryan  Speech. 

'     ipter  VI.—  The  Aryan  Mythology. 


The  la~t  ten  years  have  seen  a  revolution  in  the  opinion  of  scholars  as  to  the  region  in  which 
the  Aryan  race  originated,  and  theories  which  not  long  ago  were  universally  accepted  as  the  well- 
established  conclusions  of  science  now  hardly  find  a  defender.     The  theory  of  migration  from  Asia 
'.  by  a  new-  theory  of  origin  in  Northern  Europe     In  Germany  several  works  have 
;  to  the  subject;  but  this  is  the  first  English  work  which  has  yet  appeared  embodying  the 
itly  arrived  at  by  philologists,  archaeologists,  and  anthropologists.    This  volume  affords  a 
fresh  and  lug  of  the  present  state  ol  speculation  on  a  highly  interest!]  g  subject. 


Published    semi-monthly.—  $3  a  year.—  Single     numbers,  15  cents. 


OF    POPULAR    SCIENCE. 


\"o  13°  and  \"o   133.  [Two  double  numbers,  30  cents  ea«h. 

THE     EVOLUTION     OF    SEX.— By  Prof-  Patrick  Geddes  and  J.  Arthur 
Thomson.—  With   104   illustrations. 


Chapter 
Chanter 


CONTEXTS. 

Book  I.— Male  and   Female. 

I.— The  Sexes  and  Sexual   Selection 
II. 


-The  Sexes,  and  Criticism  of  Sexual 
Selection. 


Chapter  III.— The  Determination  of  Sex  (Hy- 
potheses and  Observations. 

Chapter  IV.—  The  Determination  of  Sex  (Con- 
structive Treatment). 


Book  II.— Analysis  op  Sex.— Organs,  Tissues.  Cells. 

Chapter  VIII.—  The  Egg-cell  or  Ovum. 
Chapter     IX.— The  Male-cell  or  Sperm. 
Chapter       X.— Theory  of  Sex:    Its  Nature  and 
Origin. 


Chapter     V.— Sexual  Organs  and  Tissues. 
Chapter    VI. —  Hermaphroditism. 
Chapter  VII.—  The    Sex-elements    (General    and 
Historical. 


Book  III 

Chapter     XI.— Sexual  Reproduction. 
Chapter    XII.— Theory  of   Fertilization. 
Chapter  XIII.— Degenerate  Sexual  Reproduction 
or  Parthenogenesis. 


Processes  op  Reproduction. 

Chapter  XIV.—  Asexual  Reproduction. 
Chapter    XV.— Alternation  of  Generations. 


Book  IV.— Theory  op  Reproduction. 


Chapter     XVI.— Growth  and  Reproduction. 

Chapter  XVII.— Theory  of  Reproduction  {con- 
tinued). 

Chapter  XYIIL—  Special  Physiology  of  Sex  and 
Reproduction. 


Chapter     XLX.— Psychological   and   Ethical  As- 
pects. 
Chapter       XX.— Laws  of  Multiplication. 

Chapter      XXL— The    Reproductive    Factor    in 
Evolution. 


A.  work  which  for  range  and  grace,  masters-  of  material,  originality,  and  incisiveness  of  style  and 
treatment,  is  not  readily  to  be  matched  in  the  "long  list  of  books  designed  more  or  less  to  popularize 
science. —  Scottish  Leader. 

A  model  of  scientific  exposition.—  Scotsman.  __ 

y0    j^  [Double   number.  30   cents. 

THE  LAW  OF  PRIVATE  Rl  GHT.-  By  George  h.  Smith,  author  of 
"Elements  of  Right,  and  of  the  Law.*'  and  of  Essays  on  "The  Certainty  of  the 
Law,  and  the  Uncertainty  of  Judicial  Decisions."  "The  True  Method  of  Legal 
Education."  &c,  &c. 

contents. 
Introduction. 


I.—  Explanation  of  the  Design  and  Scope  of  the 

Work. 
EI.— Of  the  Definition  of  the  Law. 
III.— Of  the  Division  of  the  Law. 


Part  I. 
Of  the   Nature   of   the   Law   of   Private 

Right. 

Chapter  I. 
Analytical  Outline  of  the  Law  of  Private  Right. 

Chapter  II. 

Of  the  Nature  of  Right,  and  of  the  Law  of  Private 

Right,  and  their  "Relation  to  Each  Other. 


Part  II. 
Of  the  Law  of  Private  Right  as  Histor- 
ically Developed. 

Chapter  I. 

Of  the  Historical    Development  of  Jurisdiction. 


Chapter  II. 
Historical  Development  of  the  Law  (as  opposed 
to  Equitv). 

Chapter  HI. 
Historical   Development  of   Equity. 


Part  III. 

Of  the  Nature   and  of  the  Method   and 

Principles   of   Right. 

Chapter  I. 
Definition  of  Rights. 

Chapter  II. 
The  Same  Subject  Continued,  and  herein,  of  the 
Standard  of  Right  and  Wrong. 

Chapter  HI. 
Of  the  Method  and  First  Principles  of  Right. 

Chapter  IV. 

Of  the  Limit  to  the  Liberty  of  the  Individual. 
Imposed   by  the  Rights  of  the  State. 

Chapter  V. 
Natural    Rights   Demonstrated    from   the  Above 
Principles. 


THE    HUMBOLDT   PUBLISHING    CO..  28  Lafayette  Place.  New  York. 


THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


CAPITAL:     A    Critical     Analysis     of    Capitalist     Production.-  By 
K ai;i.  Marx.— Translated  from  t J » « -  third  German  edition  bj  Savuxl  Moore 
an. I  Edward  Avslxng,  and  edited  l>y  Fbbdsbicb  Bnoelb. — Ttu 
Edition.  —  Carefully  i><  vis<  -/. 


Part  I. 

COMMODITIES     \M»    MONET. 


!  —  t  lommodlt 
Elementary  •  .;   Form  •  •;    • 

rota]  or  Expanded   Form  ..t  \ 
i      m  of  Value 
Money  Porm. 
II.—  ExcJ 


Chapter  ill    -Money,  or  the  Circulation  ol 
modifies. 
l.  'I  of  Values. 

2    'I'll.-  Medium  of  <  Irculation 
:;.  Money:  hoarding,  meant  of  payment,  uni- 
renal   money. 


Part  II. 

iiii       i  i:  \\>i 'OEM  \  I  K»n     OF    MONEY     INTO    CAPITA!.. 


Chapter  IV.— The  Genera]  Formula  for  OapitaL 
•  r  v.—  i kmtradlctiona  in  the  General  Form- 
ula of  Capital. 


Chapter  VI—  The  Buying  and  .Selling  of  Labor- 
power. 


Part  III. 

THE    PRODUCTION     <>K    ABSOLUTE     SlKl'I.I  S     VAI.I  E. 


r  VII.  —  The  Labor-procesa  and  the  Process 
of  Producing  Surplus  Value. 

Chapter   v  111 Constant    Capital   and  Variable 

( lapitaL 


Chapter  EX.— The   Kate  of  Surplus  Value. 

Chapter     X—  Th>-  Working   Day 

Chapter  XI. —  Rate  and  Mass  of  Surplus  Value. 


Part   IV. 

THE     PRODUCTION*     OP     RELATIVE     SURPLUS     V.M.I  E. 


r    XII.— The  Concept  of  Relative  Surplus 

Value. 
r  XIII. —  Cooperation. 


Chapter  XIV.— Division  of  Labor  and  Manufac- 
ture. 
Chapter     XV.—  Machinery  and  Modern  Industry. 


Part  V. 

THE     PRODUCTION*    OF    ABSOLUTE    AND    OF    RELATIVE    SURPLUS    VALUE. 

Chapter  XVIII—  Various  Formula?  for  the  Rate 


<*hapter     XVI. —  Absolute   and   Relative   Surplus 

Value. 
Chapter  X.V  11.— Changes  <>f  Magnitude  in  the  price 

of  Labor-power  and  in  Surplus  Value. 


of  Surplus  Value. 


Pakt    VI. 
WAGES. 


I  bapter  XIX— The  Transformation  of  the  Value 
(and  respectively  the  Price)  of  Labor- 
power  into  Wages. 


Chapter  XX— Time-wages. 
Chapter  XXI. —  Piece-wages. 
Chapter  XXII.— National  Differences  of  Wages. 


Part   VII. 

THE     ACCUMULATION     OF     CAPITAL. 


iter  XXIII — Simple  Reproduction. 

•r    X-XJ.V.—  Conversion    of    Surplus    Value 

into  <  lapitaL 


Chapter     XXV.—  The  General  Law  of  Capitalist 

Accumulation. 


Pakt    VIII. 

Till:     ><>-<  AI.I.I.I)      PRIMITIVE     ACCUMULATION*. 


chapter     XX VI.— The  Secret  of  Primitive  Accn- 
mnlatjqn 

r  XXVn.— Expropriation  of  the  Agricul- 
tural Population  from  the  Land 
r  XXVIII.—  Bloody  Legislation  against  the 
-. print.-. 1  from  the  End  Of  the  l"ih 
iry.  Forcing  down  of  Waget  by  Acta 
of  Paruan 
t  XXIX  — Genesis  oi  the  Capitalist  Farmer. 


Chapter  XXX.— Reaction  of  the  Agricultural 
Revolution  on  Industry.  Creation  of  the 
Horn,-  Market  for  Industrial  Capital 

Chapter  XXXI.— Genesis  of  the  Industrial  Cap- 
italist. 
ter  XXXII. — Historical    Tendency    of    Cap- 
it:ili<ti<-   Accumulation. 

Chapter  XXXIII.  — Tin-  Modern  Theorj  of  Col- 
onization. 


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THE     HUMBOLDT     LIBRARY 


No.  139. 

LIGHTNING,   THUNDER,   AND     LIGHTNING-CONDUCTORS- By 

Gerald    Mollot,   D.D.,   D.Sc. —  Illustrated. 


CONTEXTS. 

Lecture    I. 

LIGHTNING    AND    THUNDER 

Identity  of  Lightning  and  Electricity— Frank- 
iin's  Experiment — Fatal  Experiment  of  Richmau — 
Immediate  Cause  of  Lightning — Illustration  from 
Electric  Spark — What  a  Flash  of  Lightning  is — 
Duration  of  a  Flash  of  Lightning — Experiments 
of  Professor  Rood — Wheatstone's  Experiments — 
Experiment  with  Rotating  Disk — Brightness  of  a 


Flash  of  Lightning— Various  Forms  of  Lightning 

—Forked  Lightning,  Sheet  Lightning,  Globe  Light- 
ning—St. Elmo's  Fire— Experimental  Illustration 
—Origin  of  Lightning— Length  of  a  Flash  of  Light- 
ning—Physical Cause  of  Thunder  — Rolling  of 
Thunder— Succession  of  Peals— Variation  of  In- 
tensity—Distance of  a  Flash  of  Lightning. 


Lecture    II. 
LIGHTNING-CONDUCTORS. 


Destructive  Effects  of  Lightning— Destruction 
of  Buildings — Destruction  of  Ships  at  Sea — De- 
struction of  Powder  Magazines — Experimental 
Illustrations — Destruction  of  Life  by  Lightning — 
The  Return  Shock — Franklin's  Lightning-rods — 
Introduction  of  Lightning-rods  into  England — The 
Battle  of  Balls  and  Points — Functions  of  a  Light- 


ning-conductor—Conditions of  a  Lightning-con- 
ductor—Mischief Done  by  Bad  Conductors— Evil 
Effects  of  a  Bad  Earth  Contact— Danger  from  Rival 
Conductors — Insulation  of  Lightning-conductors- 
Personal  Safety  in  a  Thunder-storm— Practical 
Rules— Security  afforded  by  Lightning-rods. 


Appex 
RECENT  CONTROVERSY  ON 
Theory  of  Lightning-conductors  Challenged — 
Lectures  of  Professor  Lodge — Short  Account  of 
his  Views  and  Arguments — Effect  of  Self-induction 
on  a  Lightning-rod — Experiment  on  the  Discharge 
of  a  Leyden  Jar — Outer  Shell  only  of  a  Lightning- 
rod  acts  as  a  Conductor — Discussion  at  the  Meet- 
ing of  the  British  Association,  September.  1888— 


DIX. 

LIGHTNING-CONDUCTORS. 
Statement  by  Mr.  Preece— Lord  Rayleigh  and  Sir 
William  Thomson— Professor  Rowland  and  Pro- 
fessor Forbes— M.  de  Fonvielle.  Sir  James  Dong- 
lass,  and  Mr.  Synrons — Reply  of  Professor  Lodge- 
Concluding  Remarks  of  Professor  Fitzgerald.  Pres- 
ident of  the  Section — Summary  Showing  the  Pres- 
ent State  of  the  Question. 


No.  140. 

WHAT     IS     MUSIC?  — With  an  Appendix  on  How  the  Geometrical  Lines  have 
their  Counterparts  in  Music. — By  Isaac  L.  Eice. 


COXTEXTS. 

Part   I. 


I. —  Chinese  Theory. 

II.— Hindoo  Theory. 
III. —  Egyptian  Theory. 
IV. —  Grecian  Theories. 

V.— Arabic-Persian  Theory. 


I.— Space  and  Time  (Rest  and  Motion). 
n. —  Vibrations. 
Ill-— Colors  and   Forms. 


VI.  —  Scholastic  Theories. 
VII.—  Euler's  Theory. 
VIII. —  Herbert   Spencer's  Theory. 
IX.—  Helmholtz's  Theorv. 


Part   II. 

TV — Internal  Government. 
V— States  of  Mind. 
Conclusion. 


As  the  final  result  of  his  speculations,  Mr.  Rice  denies  that  music  is  an  invention  by  man.  and  holds 
that  it  exist*  in  Nature;  that  it  is  ■  not  accidental  and  human,  but  dynamical  and  cogmical"  His  oieto 
seems  to  tne  to  be  sustained  by  all  the  physical  facts  of  Nature  and  all  the  experience  of  man.—  Richard 
Grant  White. 


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OF     POPULAR     SCIENCE. 


ARE     THE     EFFECTS     OF     USE     AND     DISUSE     INHERITED? 
An    Examination   of    the  View  held    by  Spencer   and    Darwin. — By  William 
t   Ball. 


CONT  ENTS. 


[HPOBTAMCl    AM'    I'.nias'.    ■■>•  thk    [NQCTBT. 

^i-t  jiCl  LB)  AMD    ABGUM  I  ' 

i  •  •  miituMi  of  the  Jaws. 
Diminished    Biting  Muscles  <.t   Lapdogs. 

led  Teeth. 
Blind  Cave  <  frabs. 

i  oncomltant  Variation  from  Oonoomitanl 

I  '!-■ 

The  Giraffe,  and   Necessity  for  Oonoomitanl 
Variation. 

Alleged  Ruinoui  Natural  Si-l.wtic.ii. 

.  •  -e  <  Jase  of  Neuter  Insects, 
ties. 

Lack  of  Evidence. 

Inherited   Epilepsy  in  Guinea-pigs. 

Inherited   insanity  and  Nervous  Disorders. 

individual  and  Transmissible  Type  not  Mod- 
ified Alike. 

llAKWIN  s     BXAMPLSS. 

Reduced  Wings  of  Birds  of  Oceanic   Islands. 
Drooping  Ban  and  Deteriorated  instincts. 

Win;;-    ami    Legs    of   Pucks   ami    Fowl-. 

Pigeon's  Wings. 

Shortened    Breastbone  in  Pigeons. 

Shortened    Peel  in  Pigeons. 

Shortened    Legs  of  Babbits. 

Blind  Cave-Animals. 

Inherited    Habits. 

Tamenesa  of  Rabbits.  [tion. 

Modifications  <  >ln  lously  Attributable  to  Relec- 


Similar  Effects  oi   Natural   Selecti< 

i  ie  Inheritance, 
inferiority  of  Senses  in  Euro] 
Short-slghi   in  Watchmakei 
Larger  Hands  in  Laborers'  Infants. 
Thickened  Sole  in  in! 
\  Source  ol    Mental  Oonfu 
Weaki  e  Inheritance. 

'•.in  Kill  D    1  viriilKS. 

[nherited   Mutilations. 

The  Motmol  i  Tali 

Other  Inherited  Injuries  Mentioned  by  Di 

Quasi-Inheritance. 

MlBCXLIiAKIOOS    COKSTOKBATIi 

True  Relation  of  Parents  ami  Offspring. 
■  rse  [nheritanoe. 
>•  Origin  of  the  Ova, 

Marked    Effects  of  Use  and  Disuse  on  the 
individual.  [ancel 

Would  Natural  Selection  Pavor  Cse-Inherit- 

Use-Inheritance  an  EviL 

Varied  Effects  of  Use  and  Disuse. 

Use-Inheritance  Implies  Pangenesis. 

Pangenesis   Improbable. 

Spencer's   Kxi>lanation  of  Use-Inheritance. 
CONCLUSIONS. 

Use-Inheritance  Discredited  as  Unnecesi 
Unproven,  and   Improbable. 

Modern    Reliance  on  Use-Inheritance   Mis- 
placed. 


142  and   No.  143. 


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A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  RlGHTS  OF  WOMAN— With  Strictures 
on  Political  and  Moral  Subjects. — By  Mart  Wollstonecbapt. — New  Edition, 
with  mi  Introduction  by  Mrs.  Henry  Pawcett. 


0  O  N  T  E  N  T 


Chapter  I. —  The  Rights  and  Involved  Imties  of 
Mankind  Considered. 

Chapter  H. — The  Prevailing  Opinion  of  a  Sexual 
Character  Discussed. 

Chapter  HI.— The  Same  Subject  Continued. 

Chapter  IV.— Observations  on  the  State  of  I>eg 
radation  to  which  Woman  is  Reduced  by  Va 

rimi-  ( Ian  • 

Chapter  V. —  Anlmadverslona  on  Some  of  the 
Writers  who  have  Rendered  Women  Objects 
of  Pity,  bordering  on  Contempt. 

Chapter  VL— The  Effect  which  an  Early  Asso 
elation  of  Ideas  has  upon  the  Character. 

Chapter  VII.—  Modesty. —  Comprehensively  Con- 
red,  and  not  as  n  Sexual  Virtue. 


I  banter Vm. —  Morality  Undermined  by  > 
Notions  of  the  Importance  of  a  I 

union. 

Chapter     TX. —  Of  the  Pernicious   Effects  which 
arise  from  the  Unnatural  Distinct 
1   In  Society. 

Chapter       X. —  Parental  Affection 

Chapter     XI. — Duty  to  Parents. 

Chapter   XII. —  On  National  Edncal 

Chapter  XI II. — Some  Instances  of  the  Folly  which 
the  Ignorance  of  Women  generates;  with  1 
eluding  Reflections  on  the  Moral  Improv< 

that  a  Revolution  in  Female  Mai  I 
naturally  be  expected  to  produce. 


This  edition  is  a  reprinl  of  the  firs!  edition,  which  appeared  nearly  one  hundred 
years  ago. 

Women     at     the     I  "i-«  ■  -«  1 1 1      lime    ami     Women     a     llim.li.d     Year-     A-n. 

■!,:,■  1),,  conditions  '  '  to  confront  m  those  old  timet; 

out  ih-  degradation   was  very  real,  and  the  protest  against  it  woe  aery  much  needed,    Mre.  Fat 
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A    CATALOGUE    RAISONNE, 

Containing  all  the  works  in  THE  HUMBOLDT  LIBRARY,  up  to  and  including  No.  138, 
CROUPED  ACCORDING  TO  THEIR  SUBJECT-MATTER,  for  the  convenience  of  those 
who  desire  to  become  familiar  with  the  results  of  scientific  inquiry  in  any  of  the  following 
departments:— 


ASTRONOMY. 


No. 

No. 
No. 

No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 


14.— THE     WONDERS     OF    THE     HEAVENS. 
20.—  THE     ROMANCE     OF    ASTRONOMY.     . 


49.—  THE     SUN:    ITS    CONSTITUTION;    PHENOMENA;    CONDITION 

Essays  on  astronomical   subjects   are   also   contained   in 
1.— LIGHT     SCIENCE     FOR    LEISURE     HOURS 


—  FAMILIAR    ESSAYS     ON     SCIENTIFIC     SUBJECTS.    . 

POPULAR     SCIENTIFIC     LECTURES 

CURRENT    DISCUSSIONS     IN     SCIENCE 

ILLUSIONS     OF    THE     SENSES,   AND     OTHER    ESSAYS. 
■NOTES     ON     EARTHQUAKES,   ETC 


120.— THE     MODERN     THEORY     OF     HEAT. 


Flammarion. 

Miller, 

Carr. 

Proctor. 
Proctor. 
.  Helmholtz. 
Williams. 
Proctor. 
Proctor. 

MOLLOY. 


BIOGRAPHY— HISTORY    OF    SCIENCE. 


No.  43.  — DARWIN    AND     HUMBOLDT 

No.  80.— CHARLES    DARWIN:     HIS     LIFE     AND    WORK. 

No.  89.— THE    GENESIS     OF    SCIENCE 

A    HALF-CENTURY     OF    SCIENCE 

PROGRESS     OF    SCIENCE     FROM     1836    to    1886.  . 


(  A    h; 

No.  96.? 

(  THE 


AliASSIZ,    ETC. 

Grant  Allen. 

Spencer. 

Huxley. 
Grant  Allen. 


BIOLOGY.—  ZOOLOCY—  BOTANY. 

and  12.— THE     NATURALIST     ON    THE     RIVER    AMAZONS.      .  Bates. 

-THE     EVOLUTIONIST    AT    LARGE ALLEN. 

-FACTS     AND     FICTIONS     OF     ZOOLOGY Wilson. 

-VIGNETTES    FROM    NATURE Allen. 

-LIFE     IN    NATURE Hinton. 

-THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    ANIMALS    AND    PLANTS.      .        .  Wallace,  Dyer 

-  STUDIES    OF    ANIMATED    NATURE Dallas. 

-THE    FORMATION    OF    VEGETABLE    3IOULD Darwin. 

See  also  under   the  head  "Evolution." 

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Nos.  11 

No.  26.- 

No.  29.- 

No.  33.- 

No.  48.- 

No.  64.- 

No.  84.- 

No.  92- 


THE 


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EARLY     HISTORY    OF     MAN. 


I  II  I        IHill.lN      OF      N  ITION8. 

i  ii  i      D  v\\  n    ui      BISTORT. 
iiii     <  1 1 1 1  i  >  ii  <  m  >  i »    or     rm:    WORLD. 
LNTHROPOLOGY.-    tBCHJBOLOGY.     . 

0  ud  181 THE    <>i:m. in    <>i     Tin:    ARYANS. 


EDUCATION.      LANGUAGE. 


No.     -  i  DUOATION:    ENTBLLEGT1  ai„  MORAL,  and    ruvs 

TDK    BTUDT    OP     LANGUAGES 

>  and  :il.-THK    BTUDT    OF    WORDS 

(THK     PHILOSOPHY    OF    STYLE.  . 

NO. 

/tiik    MOTHER    TONGUE..  .... 

TECHNICAL     EDUCATION. 

No.  9L— THE     RISE    OF    UNIVERSITIES 

THE    TEACHING    of    SCIENCE 

>.-,,.   LOO.— SCIENCE    AND     POETRY 

So.  105.— FREEDOM     I>"     SCIENCE     AND    TEACHING. 
N"..s.  108  and  109.— ENGLISH,    PAST    AND    PRESENT.      . 
No.  21.— THE    PHTSICAL    BASIS    OF    I. III..    AND    OTHER 
No.  53.— ANIMAL    AUTOMATISM,   AND    OTHER     ESSAYS. 

No.  61.— MISCELLANEOUS     ESSAYS 

No.  86.— TECHNICAL     EDUCATION 

No.  73.— EVOLUTION    IN    HISTORY,    LANGUAGE,   &c. 


.    K.w. 

.    Keaky. 
.    I 

.  Wilson 
Tayloh 


KSSAYS 


- 

Tbkki  b 

BPBKI  KB. 


Hrxi  }.•, 

Laubie. 

Cldtobd 

Wilson. 
Haickel 

Tbknch, 

HtJXLKT. 

Httzlbi 

PBOCTOB 

HlXLEV. 

Various  authors. 


ETHICS.— MANNERS    AND    CUSTOMS. 


No.  B.— THE    DATA    OF    ETHICS 

I   tSHION     in     DEFORMITY 

No.  55.— THE    SCIENTIFIC     BA8IS    OF     MORALS. 

No.  68.—  PROGRESSIVE     MORALITY 

No.  88      SCIENCE     and    CRIME 


Spkncbb. 

Flowib 

Cltttobd. 

Fowler. 

.  WlLS(  N. 


No.  98.— CAPITAL     PUNISHMENT Blevek. 


EVOLUTION    THEORY.— DARWINISM. 


No.  16.— THE    ORIGIN    OF    SPECIES. 

No.  86.— LECTURES    ON     EVOLUTION. 

-ORGANIC     EVOLUTION. 


Hf.XI.KV 

Hr.xi.KY 
Romanes. 


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OF    POPULAR     SCIENCE. 
EVOLUTION    THEORY.— DARWINISM. 

Nos.  58  and  59.— THE     ORIGIN*    OF    SPECIES DABWIN. 

No.  94— THE     FACTORS     OF     ORGANIC     EVOLUTION SPENCEB. 

No.   110— THE     STORY     OF     CREATION Clodd. 

Nos    115  and  116.—  DARWINISM A.  R.  Wallace. 

Nos    L17  and  118.—  MODERN     SCIENCE    AND    MODERN    THOUGHT.      .        .        S.  Lain... 

Nos.  132  and  133.— THE    EVOLUTION    OF    SEX Geddes  and  Thomson. 

No.  J3—  SCIENTIFIC     SOPHISMS    (criticism; Wainwright. 

See  also,  for  essays   coming  under  this  head. 

No.   17—  PROGRESS:     ITS     LAW     AND     CAUSE SPEHCEB. 

No.  -1—  THE    PHYSICAL     BASIS    OF    LIFE Huxley. 

No.  73.—  EVOLUTION     IN     HISTORY.    LANGUAGE,   &c Various   aul 


GEOLOGY.— GEOGRAPHY. 


No.  C—  TOWN     GEOLOGY 

Nos.  38  and  39.— GEOLOGICAL     SKETCHES. 
No.   14— TROPICAL     AFRICA.   . 


KlNGSLEY. 

Geikie. 
.   Drummond. 
Various   authors. 


Nos.  122  and  123.— THE     ORIGIN     OF     ALPLNE     LAKES. 

See,  also. 
No.  21— THE     PHYSICAL     BASIS     OF     LIFE,   AND     OTHER    ESSAYS.  Huxley. 

No.  41.—  CURRENT     DISCUSSIONS     IN     SCIENCE WILLIAMS. 

Ko.  79— SCIENTIFIC     ASPECTS     OF     SOME     FAMILIAR     THINGS.      .         .       WILLIAMS. 


MAN.— ORIGIN.— PLACE    IN    NATURE.— RACES. 

Xo.  4— MAN'S    PLACE     LN    NATURE HUXLEY. 

No.  71.—  ANTHROPOLOGY ARCHEOLOGY WILSON  and  Tylor. 

Nos.  74,  75,  78,  77.— THE    DESCENT    OF    MAN Darwin. 

Nos.  130  and  131.— THE     ORIGIN    OF    THE     ARYANS Isaac  Taylcr. 

MEDICINE— EPIDEMICS. 

No.  15.  —  LONGEVITY Gardner. 

No.  67.— THE     BLACK     DEATH.         .        ■ HJtCXBB. 

No.  72— THE     DANCING     MANIA     OF    THE     MIDDLE     AGES.                          .  HECXER. 

No.  87.— THE    MORPHINE    HABIT Ball. 

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PHYSICS. 


N  ■ 

'•— 

10  - 

- 

87.- 

• 

11!). 

No 

120. 

.  117 

l  ill      FORMS     <>i      WATER. 

THE     CON8ER1  kTION     OI      i  m  ROY. . 

i  ii  i      i  n  i  hi;  \     in     »<>i  m»    in    ITS    RE1 
I  i  v-iinv     i\     ELECTRICITY.  . 
LECTURES     on     LIGHT 

-  nun  i:      \ni>     i  ni  RG1 

in  I :     iiiti  BIC     LIGHT. 

—  Till:     MODERN     THEORY     OF     HEAT. 
and  118.— MODERN     SCIENC1       \nd     MODERN    THOUGHT 


'1  i 

BALrOl    Ii     Bm 
ITION      1  o     HUSIC.  !■'.  WKNA. 

TVNl'Al.I,. 


TVM'AI.!.. 
KANT    ALLEN. 

Mi 

Laimo. 


POLITICAL,  ECONOMIC,  AND  FINANCIAL  SCIENCE. 

-PHYSICS      \ni>     POLITICS 

i.  LNDHOLDING     in     inc. land 1'i-iuii. 

N"..    42.— HISTORY    OK    THE     SCIENCE    OF    POLITICS P< ■: 

50  and  51.— MONEY   AND    Tin:    MECHANISM    OF  EXCHANGE.      Stanley  J 

I  II  i      DISTRIBUTION    OF    LAND    IN     ENGLAND 

-PROFIT-SHARING Bbdlb*  Taylob. 

Nos.  102  and  107.— ULTIMATE     FINANCE Black. 

03.— THE    COMING     SLAVERY Spencbb. 

No.  121.— UTILITARIANISM J.  S.  Mill 

No.  12f— THE    QUINTESSENCE    OF    SOCIALISM Schaffls. 

15.— DARWINISM    AND     POLITICS Ritchie. 

Nos.  128  and  129.— THE     INDUSTRIAL     REVOLUTION TOTKBEE. 

14.— THE    LAW    OK    PRIVATE     RIGHT Smith. 

Nos.  135,  136,  187.—  CAPITA! Karl  Marx. 

...  No.  68,  Essays  by  Berberl  Spencer.— No.  70,  Essays  by  Spencer.— No.  90   Essays  bj   Proctor. 

PSYCHOLOGY.— PHYSIOGNOMY. 

-mind    and    BODY Bats. 

No.  22.— SEEING    and    THINKING Cltffobd 

No.  46.— THE     Dig]    \-i>     OF     MEMORY Ribot. 

No.  '..'—Tin:     DI81    LSI  B    or    THE     WILI Ribot. 

Nos.  56  and  57.— ILLUSIONS:     \    PSYCHOLOGICAL    BTUDY Sully. 

No.  82.— ILLUSIONS    OF    Tin:    SENSES Pboctob 

No.  87. -THE    MORPHINE    MAltiT Ball. 

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PSYCHOLOGY— PHYSIOGNOMY. 

No.  95.— DISEASES     OF     PERSONALITY Ribot. 

No.  101.—  DREAMS ASSOCIATION    OF    IDEAS Sully  and  Robertson. 

No.  112- THE     PSYCHOLOGY     OF    ATTENTION.  .      Ribot. 

No.  113— HYPNOTISM:    ITS   HISTORY  AND   PRESENT  DEVELOPMENT.    BJOBNSTEOM. 

Nos.  127  and  128.— PHYSIOGNOMY    AND     EXPRESSION Mantegazza. 

See,  also. 
No.  32—  HEREDITARY    TRAITS,  AND    OTHER    ESSAYS PROCTOR. 

No.  53.— ANIMAL     AUTOMATISM,    AND     OTHER     ESSAYS HTOLET. 

No.  65.— CONDITIONS     OF    MENTAL     DEVELOPMENT CLIFFORD. 

RELIGION— MYTHOLOGY. 

No.  35.— ORIENTAL     RELIGIONS Caird. 

No.  47— THE     CHILDHOOD     OF    RELIGIONS Clodd. 

No.  54— THE     BIRTH    AND     GROWTH     OF     MYTH Clodd. 

No.  62— THE     RELIGIONS     OF    THE     ANCIENT    WORLD RAWLINSON. 

No.  69.— FETICHISM Schultze. 

No.  81.— THE     MYSTERY     OF     MATTER,    ETC PlCTON. 

No.  85.— THE    ESSENTIAL     NATURE     OF     RELIGION Picton. 

See  also  No.  68,  Essays  by  Herbert  Spencer. —  No.  90.  Essays  by  Proctor. 

SCIENTIFICO-PHILOSOPHICAL    SPECULATION. 

No.  3— PHYSICS     AND     POLITICS Bagehot. 

No.  20.— THE     ROMANCE     OF    ASTRONOMY MlLLiR. 

Xo.  48.—  LIFE     UN    NATURE Hinton. 

No.  81.— MYSTERY    OF     MATTER PHILOSOPHY     OF    IGNORANCE.  .   PlCTON. 

No.  85.— THE     ESSENTIAL    NATURE     OF     RELIGION PlCTON. 

No.  86- UNSEEN    UNIVERSE PHILOSOPHY     OF    PURE     SCIENCES.      .       CLIFFORD. 

No.  89.  — THE     GENESIS    OF    SCIENCE Spencer. 

Nos.  97  and  111.  — THE     PLEASURES     OF     LIFE Lcbbock. 

No.  98— COSMIC     EVOLUTION TEACHINGS     OF     SCIENCE.  .       Clifford. 

No.  105.— FREEDOM     IN     SCIENCE     AND     TEACHING.  ....        UAECKKL. 

No.  114.  — CHRISTIANITY    AND    AGNOSTICISM Various  authors. 

Nos.  117  and  118— MODERN     SCIENCE     AND     MODERN    THOUGHT.      .  S.  LAING. 

DARWINISM     AND     POLITICS Rit<  hie. 

ADMINISTRATIVE     NIHILISM Huxley. 


No.  125.  ) 


„*,  Most  of  tlie  Essays  under  this  head  are  named  in  other  divisions  of  this  classified 
Catalog-ue ;    but   they  form   a  class   by  themselves. 

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MISCELLANEOUS. 


I  H. il  l      miimi      I  OR     I  I  IS!   Kl       Hoi  k>.      . 
PROGRESS:     I  i S     LAW     ami    CAUSE.              ... 
i    \  m  1 1  i  \  i:     i  --  w  B    on     -(  1 1  s  i  ii  i<      SUBJECTS.  . 
No.  21       I  11 1      PHYSICAL     BASIS    Ol      LIFE,    \M>    OTHEB     ttSS 
CUBBENT     DISCUSSIONS     in     miin<i 

I    I  I    I        I  N       \   \  !  I    Kl 

\mu\i.     1UTOMATI8M,    wi>    OTHEB     ESSAYS. 

No.  61.— MISCELLANEOUS     ESSAYS 

i-^\%^.    PBACTICAL    AND    SPECULATIVE.. 


Ml  Kl    I  I. 

Hrxi.i  \ 
AYlLLIAMs. 

HlNTwN. 
lii'XLEY. 

SPl  N(  l  i;. 


So.  7a      EVOLUTION     IN     BTI8TOBY,    LANGUAGE,   AND    BCEENCE.        Various  authors. 
SCIENTIFIC    ASPECT8    <>i      SOME     FAMILIAR    THINGS.      .  WILLIAMS. 

No.  82.—  HXU8ION8    OF    THE     SENSES,   AND    OTHEB     ESSAYS.  Pi; 

No.  80.— UNSEEN    CNTVEB8E PH1XOSOPHY    «>i     PUBE    SCIENCES.      ,       I  liffokh. 

■'.  and  HI.— THE     PLEA8UBE8    OF     LIFE Lui 

No.  98.-    COSMIC     EVOLUTION — TEACHINGS    <>i      SCIENCE.  .       Cltjtobd. 

No.  98.—  n.yti  RE-STUDIES Various   authors. 

No.  LOO.— SCIENCE    AND    POKTKY WILSON. 


Tin:    COMING    8LAVEBY,   ETC Spencer. 

No.  114.— CHBISTIANITX    AND     AGNOSTICV3M Huxley  and  others. 


A    NEW     SERIES 

the  humboldt' publishing  co. 

EDITED    BY    W.   D.   P.    BLISS. 

THE    SOCIAL    SCIENCE    LIBRARY 

OF 

THE      BEST      AUTHORS. 
///   cheap  editions  for  th*    Public. —  !'•>  bi   published  monthly. 

Paper,  S8  oenta,  or  92.50  a  rear.  Cloth,  7."»  tents,  «,i    .*7..~>i>  ;<  >ear. 

PATABUt    IX    Al'\ 


Beady,  .fun nun/   1, 
SIX     CENTURIES     OF    WORK     AND     WAGES. 

By  Jamie  k   Thobold   Rogbbs    M.P.,  Professor  of  Political   Economy,  Oxford,  England. 
Abridged,  with  Charts  and   Summary,  by  W.  D.  P.  Bliss. 

L'kkIi/,   February   1, 

MILL    ON     SOCIALISM. 

The  only  collection  oi  John   Stuabt  Mill's  writings  on  Socialism. 


TO    BF.    rOLliOWXD    HY 

WILLIAM    MORRIS-POET,    ARTIST,    SOCIALIST. 

AN  I' 

FACTS     ON     SOCIALISM. 

flection  of  facta,  mainly  Am  g  on   -    sialism  or  Nationalism. 


A    SPLENDID    COMPILATION    OF    MOST   VALUABLE    MATERIAL. 

The  Humboldt  Libiary  is  m  splendid  compilation  of  most  valuable  material 
\  <■  of  anything  bo  eing  bad  for  the  Bame  amount  of 

..  itaining  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  of  the  time,  and  pat  in 

and  accessible  shape.  Erastub  Wimak. 

WHAT    THE     INTELLECTUAL    GIANTS    ARE    THINKINC    AND    WRITINC    ABOUT. 
m  the  Industrial  and  Commercial  Qaiette,  Chlcj 
The  publishera  of  TIte  Humboldt  Library  have  opened  a  mine  "f  literary  wealth, 

and  they  place  before  the  reader  n  List  of  I ka  Indispensable  to  every  intelligent 

ad  woman  who  desires  t«>  know  what  the  intellectual  giants  are  thinking  and 
writing  about.  

CHOICE    SPECIMENS    OF    LITERATURE    AND    SCIENCE. 
[From  Tht  Lutheran,  Philadelphia 
The  Humboldt   Library  embraces   in   its  numbers  Borne   choice   specimens  of 

ture  aud  science.     Its  large  page  and  g 1  type  make  it  pleasurable  to  peruse. 

Its  master-writers  are  Darwin,  Huxley,  Tyndall,  Spencer,  Clifford,  Romanes,  Grant 
.  and  their  associates,  yet  there  are  many  numbers  of  great  interesl  to  the  special 
student,  whether  he  be  psychologist,  sociologist,  or  naturalist;  and  others  of  equal 
-i  to  the  general  literary  reader. 


WILL    MAKE    A    NATION    OF   SCHOLARS    OF    OUR    PEOPLE. 
[From  Tht  National  Ea  nomitt,  Washington,  D.  i 

The  publications  of  The  Humboldt  Publishing  Co.  ares  I a  to  the  industrial 

3.  They  comprise  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  scientists  of  the  age, 
and  are  furnished  at  a  price  that  even  the  poorest  may  enjoy  the  privilege  of  res 
them.  No  course  of  reading  could  be  of  greater  benefit  to  the  average  citizen  or  youth 
than  the  publications  of  this  company.  Every  field  of  Bcience  is  represented,  and  the 
rches  of  the  ablest  minds  are  put  before  the  readers  in  a  form  adapted  to  the 
understanding  of  any.  '  '  Such  publications  will  make  a  nation  of  scholars 
of  our  people  if  they  will  only  improve  the  opportunity  this  company  offers. 

THESE    REMARKABLY    CHEAP    PRODUCTIONS. 
[Extract  from  The  PubKehert'  Circular,  London,  England,  -May  I,  1889.] 
The    Humboldt    Publishing    Co.,  of   New    York,   seems   to   be  what    is   called 
across  the  Atlantic  a  "live"  concern.     Its  aim  is  high,  for  apparently  despising  the 
broad  realm  of  fiction,  it  proposes  to  provide  the  public  witli  the  great  classics  of 
modern   science;   strong  meat  for  them  that  are  of  full   age;   and  all  this   for 
a  beggarly  fifteen  cents  &  volume!     In  other  words,  the  works  of  such  men  as  Darwin. 
Tyndall.  Huxley,   B.  A.   Proctor,   Herbert   Spencer,   Bagehot,  Bain,  W.  K.  Clifford, 
es  Cingsley,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  and  many  other  celebrated  English  authors  are 
placed  before  the  public  at  Bevenpence  halfpenny  a  volume.    *   *    *    They  are  sup- 
plying  the  British  Isles  and  colonies  with  these  remarkably  cheap  productions. 

EVERY   VOLUME    IS    OF   ACKNOWLEDGED    EXCELLENCE. 

[From  Thf  'Evening  Mercury,  St  John's,  Newfoundland.] 

Among  the   numerous    issues  of  books  at  once   good    and    cheap,  those   of   The 

Humboldt  Library  hold  a  foremost  place.     One  volume  is  published  monthly,  and  the 

aeries  now  numbers  over  one  hundred  volumes.     The  paper  and  type  are  excellent, — 

all  that  could  be  desired, —  and  the  price  is  a  perfect   marvel  even   in   these  days  6f 

n  literature.  '  *  •  On  the  score  of  mere  cheapness — the  quality  of  paper  and 
type  and  the  quantity  <>f  matter  being  taken  into  account — The  Humboldt  Library 

es  off  the  palm.  In  many  instances  the  price  is  about  one  tenth  that  charged 
by  other  publishers  for  the  same  book,  in  cloth  binding. 

Books,  however,  like  other  articles,  maybe  at  once  "cheap  and  nasty."  Not  bo 
with  the  issues  of  Tin  Humboldt  Library.  Nearly  every  volume  is  one  of  acknowledged 
excellence.  All  trashy  productions  are  excluded,  and  only  those  of  writer,-  who  belong 
to  the  front  rank  in  their  several  departments  find  admission  into  Tht  Humboldt. 

Nearly  all  the  volumes  belong  to  the  scientific  and  philosophical  class  of  books, 
dally  such  as  are  popular  in  style  and  adapted  to  educated  taste-.     The  order  of 

novel-readers  will  find  no  f 1  to  suit    them   in    The  Humboldt;   hut   the  thoughtful  and 

intelligent — those  who  wish  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  foremost  writers 
in  the  domains  of  science,  in  philosophic  speculation,  in  morals,  in  political  economy, 
in  the  science  of  politics,  in  the  history  of  religions,  in  physiology  and  medicine,  in 
general  evolution  of  humanity,  will  find  in  Tht  Humboldt  the  productions  of 
the  master  minds  of  the  age,  — the  great  leaders  of  modern  thought. 


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